The landscape of childhood can be an imaginary place; here truth is merged with fairy-tale and myth when recollecting events, emotions, or experiences. What rises from this duality is a mythologised depiction of the past which can create a sense of faux nostalgia.
Traditional fairy-tales have much symbolism and repeatedly use the forest as metaphor for the subconscious, the spiritual world, and the unknown. Carl Jung suggested that the sylvan terrors that feature so prominently in children’s tales symbolise the perilous aspects of the unconscious, and its tendency to devour or obscure reason.
The concept of my work during my third year was was to use familiar fairy tale narratives and tropes as a lens to represent events from childhood; the use of this universal symbolism allowed emotional distance between my work and myself. A range of media was used to create fantasy environments, which is then populated with a female protagonist who is central to the work, along with other beings that have symbolic reference to fairy-tales.