Come Narciso divenne uomo

This ‘Piccola Storia Vegetale’ explores the topic of identity through the myth of Narcissus and the fatal love for oneself. The original myth, in which man is transformed into a flower as punishment, is distorted. The provocation is based on a change of perspective that sees the natural world above the human one, contrary to what has always happened in most cultures, in which man superbly tries to govern nature and emphasize his own superiority over it. The historical hierarchical relationship between the two is reversed and the transformation of a flower into a man has a nefarious meaning within this perspective. The story is divided into 4 chapters, whose titles summarize the phases of the metamorphosis from a flower to a man. I called the project Ἐπιφάνεια, a Greek term that is synonymous with mirror or shiny surface. The reflection represents the fundamental step in the Narcisuss’ process of self awareness. The word refers precisely to the epiphany, or the fatal moment in which the protagonist realizes that the lover he is trying to reach is himself.