Daphne Series – Lillian E. Smith Residency
Created during summer 2022 residency at the Lillian E. Smith Center for Creative Arts While taking solitary walks in the woods, making videos, and gathering images to explore through drawing, I contemplated the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo, which deals with power, consent, safety, and bodily ownership themes. Daphne, a nymph pursued by Apollo, transforms into a laurel tree to desperately escape his lustful advances. Yet, even after this transformation, he still takes from her in tree-form, declaring the laurel his tree, using her leaves to adorn his hair and her wood to make his bow and lyre. Although I felt relatively protected in the residency environment, there is an inherent danger in inhabiting a feminine-presenting body. For one week, I woke up at sunrise to explore movement at various locations in the landscape. Knowing no one was awake or nearby, I still had a heightened sense of awareness of being alone in nature.