Metamorphosis and the aesthetics of loss: II. Lady of the woods--the transformative lens of Francesca Woodman

As interpreted by the celebrated American photographer, Francesca Woodman, the myth of Apollo and Daphne forms an allegorical locus for the transitions and tensions of adolescence and young adulthood. Woodman's employment of this myth and related themes is also expressive of a preoccupying topos of regressive longings. Seamlessly extending Ovid's transformation of the metamorphic myths into poetic epic, her work delves deeply into their driving purpose: to make sense of change, of loss, and of life itself. Over the millennia, classical myth is infused and enriched with personal meaning by the reanimating, clarifying and transformative lens of art.