Psynama is a talented artist who seeks to uncover the hidden beauty in nature and the human form. Her recent projects have explored the relationship between body image, femininity, and the forest. Through her art, she encourages us to connect with our environment and appreciate the beauty of the world around us. Learn more about her work on our website.

​

Our (female) bodies are subject to daily threats. We constantly experience cultural, societal and political placement. Expectations of shape, size, ability, aesthetics, colour, age, health, ... construct our expectations of the Self. These criteria grant or deny us access to certain spaces. These criteria determine whether our bodies are safe or exploited. Patriarchal norms have deformed us, chiseled us into a version that most of us don't recognize.

​

Where can we begin to restore our body image to allow space and time to dissolve centuries of (physical) oppression to allow space and time for self-discovery self-care? Where can we (re)claim our individual differences? Can our bodies become a medium for agency? Can we come together to support each other no matter how we look, to celebrate our unique Selves inside out?

 

"I have often observed and experienced the strength and freedom I gain when being in nature, the dissolution of my own (bodily) expectations, of my need to compare myself to others. I can let go of constructed expectations, I can let go of my physical boundaries. I feel empowered by my senses, my sensorial experience, my connection to what's around me. I become."

​

Statements like these, experiences like these lead me to believe that possibly it’s by being in nature where we can truly (re)discover ourselves. That here we find a space free of judgment, that here we can go back to our roots of existence, untouched by ideologies with a power-hungry agenda. That here we allow our bodies to be, to sense, to become, rather than to appear, to please, to display the expected. And that, finally, we can be able to accept our (physical) selves which in turn will allow us to accept others.

 

Dryades is a photo series that focuses on the symbiosis of nature and the body as a common landscape. It invites individuals to come into the depths of the forests and into the depths of themselves. It creates a space for an experience and a connection with nature just as much as with the Self and the others present. It is inspired by the ancient Greek mythological creatures, the tree nymphs or tree spirits, the beneficent and restorative powers of nature personified, linked to the lives and deaths of the forest trees.