Soheila Sokhanvari, "Daphne" , 2019

About Daphne, 2019

The concept of the title tells the story of Daphne. Having taken after Apollo’s sister, Artemis (Diana), Daphne had spurned her many potential lovers, preferring instead woodland sports and exploring the forest. Due to her identity as an “aemula Phoebes” (female rival or emulator of Artemis), she had dedicated herself to perpetual virginity. Her father, the river god Ladon, demanded that she get married and give him grandchildren. She, however, begged her father to let her remain unmarried; he eventually complied.
Apollo continually followed her, begging her to stay, but the nymph continued to reject him. They were evenly matched in the race until Eros intervened, helping Apollo catch up to Daphne. Seeing that Apollo was bound to reach her, she called upon her father, “Help me, Ladon! Open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger! Let me be free of this man from this moment forward!” Ladon answered her plea and “a heavy numbness [seized] her limbs; her soft breasts [were] surrounded by a thin bark, her hair [changed] into the foliage, her forearms [changed] into branches; her foot, just now swift, now [clinged] because of sluggish roots.” She was turned into a laurel tree.” (from Wikipedia) The painting is based on a portrait by Giorgione (1477-1510) of a “young woman as a bride. According to the museum it depicts Laura di Noves. The gesture of opening the fur mantle uncovers the bosom, which may indicate fecundity (and, therefore, maternity) as an offer of love and a marriage blessed with children.” (from Wikipedia)

So the concept is that we, like Apollo are the chasers of this mortal beautiful woman, and she rejects our attention and desires by turning into a tree and the braches are growing out of her body as she remains a enigmatic portrait.

Soheila Sokhanvari

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Soheila Sokhanvari

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