Daughter: The Spark
Sofia Petrides · born 2009
Sofia’s portrait turns towards the future. The Spark leaves the family story open: the next generation inherits a past, but its life has yet to take shape.
Petrides asked his daughter to sit for the sculpture when she was twelve. Her features meet the form of an ancient Kore, a figure he first encountered as a child in the Acropolis Museum.
It is the only sculpture in this group that looks upwards. That change in direction offers a quiet sense of possibility. The daughter is not asked to complete the stories of those before her; she has a story of her own to make.
- Model
- Sofia Petrides · born 2009
- Value
- Responsibility to future generations
- Materials
- Recycled PETG, printed at large scale, reworked by hand, and finished with metal coatings and patinas.
- Dimensions
- 75 × 57 cm · height × diameter
- Completed
- 2024 · Version II
Views and details
Sculptural reference
Kore 684 · Acropolis Museum, Athens
The ancient Kore’s formal pose and distinctive smile provided the starting point. The resulting sculpture brings together a childhood memory of looking at art and the artist’s present relationship with his daughter.
In the artist’s words
George Petrides · edited from the original artist’s account.
For the final sculpture in this journey, I returned to a work I first encountered as a child. My aunt Emanuela, an archaeological guide, used to take me to the old Acropolis Museum on the Acropolis itself. Decades later, I renewed my connection with Kore 684 in the new museum, which opened in 2009.
I chose this sculpture as my model and asked my daughter Sofia, then twelve, to pose. My Kore brings the ancient figure’s suggestive smile together with my daughter’s features.
It is the only sculpture in the group that looks upwards.
Sculptural inspiration — read more
The original discussion places Kore 684 within the Archaic tradition of clothed young women, with formal poses, carefully worked hair, and the distinctive Archaic smile. It also recalls the survival of ancient colour: these figures were not conceived simply as the white marble we often imagine. Here an ancient sculptural convention meets a particular child’s face.
Historical film
Watch the English-language film on YouTube.
The future
A new historical and forward-looking text for this chapter is forthcoming.