Mythologies

After exploring the diverse concept of SuperNatural, stemming from the need to reflect on the dialogue between natural and artificial in the era of the Anthropocene, the cycle conceived by Irene Alison draws to its conclusion with the Mythologies exhibition by Petrina Hicks, a retrospective look at the work of the Australian photographer, exhibited in Italy for the first time. Rewriting myths, such as the stories of Medusa or of Adam and Eve, and choosing animals with strong symbolic connotations like snakes, cats and birds as the co-protagonists of her shots, Petrina Hicks’s photographs allude to the complexity of woman’s identity and the spiritual nature of her relationship with animals. According to the photographer’s vision, animals are closer to the “divine” than humans because they exist in a state of pure awareness, and women are closer to animals because they are more capable of understanding that we exist in the same single continuum. Framed within her shots, albino pythons wrap themselves around the wrists of diaphanous muses, snow-white barn owls soar through the air and cats with an evanescent glow cast magnetic glances into the lens.