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Even our inherited classical mythology can be transmuted.

Freshly arrived in Philadelphia from his native Alexandria, Egypt, the multimedia artist Wael Shawky’s mind was on yet another place and time: ancient Greece and the era of classical mythology.

What the reader may initially find challenging in her convergence of intimate personal history and classical mythology soon turns deeply absorbing.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, his latest collection, features 17 new tales that look at artificial intelligence, classical mythology, and more in a new light.

Her aesthetic, which she describes as “minimalist maximalism,” is informed by everything from English botanical gardens to classical mythology and the seasonal flora of London — Siberian bellflower in late spring, magnolia and dogwood in summer.