The White Hen and the Snake

About the Artwork

"The White Hen and the Snake" is a powerful, dramatic visual allegory that uses a highly detailed figurative composition to explore fear, exclusion, and collective denial. Inspired by an ancient Iranian folk narrative, the artwork transforms a dark, shadowy forest floor into a tense theatrical stage where a lone white hen is forced to confront a deadly, coiling serpent to protect her nest. Through expressive brushwork, scattered feathers, and fully extended wings, the scene captures a moment of supreme resistance and raw survival. Yet, the narrative deepens into a sharp psychological truth: upon her return, the flock rejects her, fearful of the very danger she conquered. Beneath its folkloric imagery, the painting reflects on the human tendency to stigmatize survivors of trauma while remaining blind to approaching threats. In absolute harmony with the "Living Artwork" philosophy, this profound fable is integrated with a custom-composed, cinematic soundtrack. The music functions as a vital secondary layer, weaving organic rustling and deep, driving drones to mirror the fast heartbeat of a hidden struggle.

Artist Notes

The White Hen and the Snake builds its dramatic tension through a highly detailed figurative composition, contrasting the luminous white plumage of the hen with the dark, coiling body of the snake. Expressive brushwork, scattered feathers, disturbed earth, and the hen’s fully extended wings transform the forest floor into a stage of sudden movement, fear, and resistance. Inspired by an ancient Iranian folk narrative, the painting tells the story of a lone hen forced to confront a deadly snake in order to protect herself and her nest. She survives the encounter not because she is fearless, but because, when threatened, she chooses to fight. Yet when she returns to the village, the other hens and roosters do not celebrate her courage; instead, they accuse her of having been poisoned by the snake and cast her out. The survivor thus becomes an outsider, condemned not for weakness, but for having faced a danger the others have never encountered. Convinced of their own safety, the flock continues its ordinary life while distancing itself from the one who tried to warn them. Eventually, the snake reaches them too—but unlike the rejected hen, they have never learned how to confront it and become its prey. Beneath its folkloric imagery, the work reflects on fear, exclusion, collective denial, and the human tendency to stigmatise those who have survived what others refuse to acknowledge. The White Hen and the Snake ultimately asks a timeless question: when danger approaches, do we reject the one who has faced it—or learn from the courage that allowed them to survive?