Danaé: Golden Legend

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Danae and the Golden Rain, the myth revisited:
beauty, suffering, love and power

My series is inspired by the fascinating myth of Danae, the princess of Argos, who was impregnated by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold. These works plunge to the heart of femininity, revealing its splendour while exploring its painful facets.
In my colour palette, I have favoured the ranges of gold and night, inspired by Kintsugi, which so delicately embodies the beauty of repair.

The major symbols I explore in this series are manifold:

The golden rain
A metaphor for divine love and light, but also the bearer of a troubling duality. It evokes both the impulse of divine love and rape, reflecting the ambiguous omnipotence of masculinity.

The tower
where Danae is imprisoned by her father, is round and hollow, symbolising her mother's womb.
It embodies both captivity and submission to paternal power, revealing the ambiguity of family ties.

The trunk
in which Danae and her son Perseus are thrown into the sea, becomes a protective cocoon. It protects them from external dangers and unites mother and son in an unbreakable bond. Yet this refuge also symbolises motherhood, solidarity and survival in a hostile world, while exposing vulnerability to outside forces.

My representations of the tower and the trunk often evoke the shape of a life path, weaving a visual narrative charged with symbolism.

Through these ambivalent symbols, I explore the paradoxes of the female condition, revealing the intrinsic beauty and cruelty of this story, past and present.

This series is the fruit of a creative collaboration between my imagination and the advanced capabilities of artificial intelligence, enhanced by Photoshop's retouching tools.