Metamorphoses, 2025

Daria Golovina  

"Metamorphoses" is a series about transformations that occur not only with the body, but also with the concepts that shape human identity. It portrays characters searching for harmony as they navigate the shifting boundaries between their inner truth and the imposed forms.
The series explores how an external image can overshadow an internal state, how symbols and cultural ideals can dictate new contours and meanings for the body, and how the pursuit of harmony can involve exaggeration, distortion, or psychological mutation. Sometimes, a form that seems "unnatural" or "incorrect" is actually more authentic than any expected norm, and it is precisely in this in-between space that truth emerges.
Drawing on Ovid's Metamorphoses, the project illustrates how every change of form is a response to emotional or existential pressure, such as trauma, desire, or overwhelming feelings. In those myths, beauty often becomes a trap, while transformation serves as both punishment and survival. In this series, these classical motifs are reinterpreted; the characters neither escape into nor hide behind new forms. Instead, they learn to coexist with their shifting appearance, allowing the outer layer to become just one dimension of their identity.
Visually, the series is shaped by Baroque sensibilities, including dramatic light and shadow, heightened physicality, and a sense of emotional theatricality that amplifies the figures' inner tension while creating a space for acceptance. The intersection of these influences—the ancient narrative of transformation and the expressive intensity of the Baroque—emerges as a contemporary image of change: a person who evolves yet does not lose themselves.