In her Arachnae series, the Parisian journalist and photographer probes the representation of women by revisiting the myth of the legendary Lydian weaver transformed into a spider by the goddess Athena.

From the written word to images, Anna Prudhomme's creative process explores art in all its forms, highlighting the work of women artists who inspire her. A former student of socio-politics, Anna Prudhomme holds a master's degree in journalism from Goldsmiths University, London, and works with a number of magazines and fashion houses. 

At the same time, she is developing her photographic practice, inherited from her father, a war reporter, and this virtuoso is shaping her own vision on film, between portrait and landscape. With her Arachnae series, she revisits Greek mythology through the fate of the eponymous young Lydian, a timeless figure of rebellion who dared to defy Athena in the art of weaving, and whose story exists in different versions. 

Refusing to bow to the dictates of the Olympian gods, the young mortal Arachne puts her craft and artistic talent to good use in a competition. Alas, the unfortunate girl suffers the wrath of her thousand-faceted rival, daughter of Zeus and Metis, who transforms her into a hairy eight-legged creature. 

Freedom, strength and courage

Anna Prudhomme's series analyzes the way in which imaginations, figures and constructions of femininity are still inextricably linked. Adèle Farine, Paloma Vauthier, Angèle Metzger, Salomé Rose Stein, Anna Gardere, Kauda Pharaon, Lily Taïeb, Mimi Guizani, Yoa and Yolanda come from the emerging Parisian art and film scene. 

With ten portraits of these ten creative women against a black background, the photographer creates a space for play and subversion of social representations of femininity. She chose to display them under a tulle veil, as a symbol of the web, between trap and protection, representing this duality from which it is nevertheless possible to escape. 

A rendering both sensual and mysterious that she captures on 35 mm black and white film and accompanies with a poem of her own. " My images question all those constructions that confine women to ambivalent roles - prey or predator, muse or creator - and explore how these figures can be deconstructed, distorted and reappropriated," she explains. 

With her series, Anna Prudhomme pays tribute to women who, like Arachné, never stop "weaving their own story and daring to take the place they deserve".

annaprudhomme.com