In the body of work shown below, I use the folktale format to explore and specifically comment on childhood (girlhood), innocence, and coming of age, the role of a mother. I am primarily concerned with creating an abstracted narrative, scenes in which the viewer can explore the interactive elements of memory and folktale.  

 

I attempt to create humorous yet subtly uncomfortable installations/scenes that are based on my reaction to reading Italo Calvino's book of Italian Folktales and Marie-Luise von Franz's book, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales. What I recall most from reading some of Calvino's stories was how descriptive and violent they are, and that they create visual narratives that never end.  

 

Calvino’s books, like other folktales from my childhood, such as “Hansel and Gretel” and “Little Red Riding Hood,” also remind me of times when I played alone all day in the woods.  I remember making friends with salamanders and imagined beings, like fairies.   Moments like these are multi-layered, the line between what is real and what is imagined tends to blur.  Folktales have the possibility to depict a world that unfolds before us with uncertainty, confusion, and the journey into that world can be unclear and has the potential to threaten our reality. What is real and what is fiction?

 

The characters I created can be sweet and also exhibit naughty behavior. They are made out of foam, mohair, angora, and synthetic wool, and are soft,  white, furry, and featureless so that the viewer can project their own ideas onto the characters thus becoming a part of the narrative.