Catriona Gallagher
Daphne was a torso ending in leaves
2023
Film installation (hand-developed and digitised 16mm film, phytograms on glass, paper, and film)
Dimensions variable
Gallagher’s film reapproaches plant symbolism and the myth of Daphne, the naiad who metamorphosed into a bay-laurel tree to escape the advances of Apollo, filmed on 16mm and partially developed in an infusion of bay leaves. The experiments with phytography and eco-processing unfolded during Gallagher's research into plant-human hybrids and metamorphic figures in art history, of which the figure of Daphne (δἀφνη/bay-laurel/alloro) has a particular poignance in Rome. Filming in analogue for the first time, Gallagher's investigation uses the plant alchemically to develop the negative film footage and phytography to print leaves directly onto film, making a film about Daphne, with Daphne.
