We would rather breathe through bark

Analog photography, 35mm Concept by Anna Schmid-Peyer Exhibited as part of the “Haunted” exhibition in November 2025, at the Culturit, Castello 925, Venezia “Father, help!” she cried. “If your streams have divine powers, change and destroy the body which has given too much delight!” Apollo & Daphne, Ovidio We Would Rather Breathe Through Bark explores themes of refusal and resistance through the physical transformation of the body. Drawing inspiration from the myth of Daphne and Apollo, where Daphne becomes a tree to escape Apollo’s entitled desire, the work explores metamorphosis as an extreme gesture of refusal and withdrawal. The women portrayed in these pictures undergo a painful yet necessary transformation - a radical choice to retreat from oppressive dynamics. It is the creation of new boundaries through bodies that become bark, forming an armour, a new epidermis that shelters the inner self.