Daphne

Black linocut on Hereford paper
Edition of 25
30cm x 43cm approx

A heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left.’
~ Ovid

There are several versions of the Daphne myth in which she appears, but the general narrative, found in Greco-Roman mythology, is that due to a curse made by the fierce wrath of the god Cupid, son of Venus, on the god Apollo (Phoebus), she became the unwilling object of the infatuation of Apollo, who chased her against her wishes. Just before being kissed or touched by him, Daphne invoked her river god father, who transformed her into a laurel tree, thus foiling Apollo.

As Daphne starts transforming into a tree, her hair becomes leaves, her arms branches, and her legs roots. Apollo is here unseen, shrinking back behind the dark clouds, the only evidence he was there is the streaming sunlight behind Daphne as she changes.