Berenice: a story of hair transformed into stars

February 28, 2024

For several months, the painting "Bérénice" by Miren Laxague shared a classroom with the children of Oztibarreko Ikastola in Larceveau and then of Eperra Ikastola in Chéraute.

Berenice was an Egyptian queen who lived around 2,300 years ago. When her husband went off to war, she made a vow to cut her long hair if he returned safe and sound.

Her husband did come back alive, and true to her vow Berenice cut off her hair. Miraculously, the shorn hair was transformed into a flurry of stars in the night sky...

This legend gave rise to the name of a constellation, "Coma Berenices", and it inspired Miren Laxague (Saint Palais, 1979) to create her painting "Bérénice". She even included the stars, although perhaps not in their exact positions.

Painting and writing are intermingled in Miren's work. She studied Fine Arts in Pau and Nantes and she lives and works in Anglet. She paints in watercolor, ink and acrylics and she writes stories and poems, specializing in the psychological study of invented characters.

Beyond the queen of Egyptian mythology, Miren's Berenice is an imaginary person who lives with other imaginary people in an imaginary house that she calls Maison Ancolia.

To make her portrait, rather than using paint, Miren drew a face on her computer, which she then manipulated create a double. At Oztibarreko Ikastola, the older children were able to test their own drawing skills on computers.