Bwog was curious about what chefs-d’œuvre the dignified-sounding Core Scholars program would inspire, so we jumped at Lit Hum Chair/philosopher queen Christia Mercer‘s offer for us to display a few submissions. Behold, an Ovidian triptych by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, CC ’12.

As an innocent, rosy-cheeked freshman, I fell for Ovid. I fell hard. I was still reading the unassigned portions of the metamorphosis. I went around asking other people what their favourite story was, and made amateur character assessments based on the reply. (Mine for the record is Iphis and Anaraxte.) I think what I truly loved was that not all the changes were good, many were disastrous and some were purely neutral. They left open endless possibilities. Now in my senior year, our relationship has blossomed. Ovid is still as arrogant and self-assured as when I first encountered him that fateful day in the bookstore. I have changed but my love is just as strong.

I am submitting a triptych of transformation. I am not the first artist to be inspired. In Art Hum, I was delighted to encounter Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Pygmalion and Galatea and Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. In my case, I did not strive to create literal depiction of one of his tales. Rather, I was inspired to think of the transformations I have seen after I first picked up The Metamorphoses and wondered who I might become. I drew my friends, because isn’t transformation what college is all about.

~ Rowan Buchanan, CC ’12