Peonia 

Sofia Bonati's "Peonia" presents us with an arresting image of a girl crowned with pig ears, cradling a small piglet in her arms, all rendered with delicate precision. This merging of human and animal forms brings to mind ancient myths of transformation, where deities and mortals alike could shift between realms, embodying different aspects of nature. Consider Circe from Homer's Odyssey, who transformed men into swine, or the Egyptian goddess Isis, often depicted with animal attributes. In Bonati's piece, we see not a violent metamorphosis but a gentle fusion, suggesting empathy and interconnectedness with the animal kingdom. The halo-like pink circles behind the figure’s head might indicate a form of purity, a sort of innocence, as the girl seems to represent the idea of purity while embracing the piglet, a traditional symbol of impurity. The pig, historically linked to both abundance and vice, undergoes a subtle re-evaluation here, presented as vulnerable and deserving of care. This cyclical re-imaging of symbols is what allows them to remain relevant. Bonati taps into this collective memory, and invites us to reconsider our relationships with these potent symbols.