Animalcules Colouring Book

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) first observed microorganisms and defined them as “animalcules”, a portmanteau of “animal” and “molecules”. Based on this term, this book conceived and designed by Nina Canell and Robin Watkins considers a world where the smallest is suddenly in control of the largest. Its illustrations function as an exploration into morphological occurrences, rejecting the goal-oriented, the figurative, and the categorical. It opens a creative bypass by following the traditional format of a colouring book. To draw is to embrace mutational forms, and to colour in these pages is to understand that many possible forms may emerge. We are what we draw.