Metamorphoses

For this project, I selected three stories from Ovid's "Metamorphoses": Adonis in 'Myrrha', Echo in 'Narcissus and Echo', and 'The Heliades'. Taking photos, printing them on fabric and embroidering on them, I illustrated a scene from each story. I got my inspiration from the work of Alice Kettle, Gayle Chong Kwan, Ansel Adams and John Sexton, and José Romussi.

black and white Photography Embroidery mythology storytelling

Adonis _ prep work

Adonis _ Final Piece

Adonis's mother, Myrrha commited incest with her father and ran away after being discovered. So great was her shame that she believed to be unworthy of both life and death, asking the gods to rid her of both. She was then turned into a tree, myrrh, but her baby kept on groing inside her until his birth.

Echo _ prep work

Echo _ Final Piece

Echo was a nymph who was both a lover and an accomplice of Zeus. She would distract Hera whenever Zeus was out by talking to her about everything and anything. Once Hera understood the scheme, she cursed Echo to speak only the last words said in a conversation. Echo retreated to a forest, where she found Narcissus. Once he rejected her for her incapacity of speaking her own words, she seeked isolation in a cave, and as time went by she was reduced to the sound of her voice.

The Heliades _ prep work

The Heliades _ Final Piece

The Heliades were Apollo's daughters. When their brother, Phaëthon, died, they were transformed in trees. In the midst of their despair and confusion, both them and their mother tore at their leaves and branches, making blood sprout from them.