Tales of the Dark Fairy
By: Ashley Taron
After researching many different fairy tales from my childhood, I’ve discovered multiple versions of each story. To my surprise, these original stories were very grotesque and haunting when compared to the modern versions. For example, the original Little Red Riding Hood was actually called “The Story of Grandmother”, and it involved the wolf killing the Grandma before Red Riding Hood Arrives to her Grandma’s house. The wolf puts the Grandma’s flesh in the pantry along with her blood in a wine bottle. Once Red Riding Hood arrives at the house he tells her to undress and grab some meat and wine from the pantry making an attempt to seduce her. The traditional story most people are familiar with portrays adolescent morals such as, ‘don’t walk alone in the woods’ and ‘don’t speak to strangers’.
Within my series of photographs I wanted to recreate four Fairy Tales using the characters most of us already know, attempting to gain an instant connection with viewers. Instead of portraying the current, cliché versions of each story, I wanted to construct my own versions that expose new life lessons which most people are never taught. Why can’t Little Riding Hood walk alone at night, as long as she has something to protect herself? If you had to walk alone at night, would you walk in fear as the classical story suggests or would you be prepared to protect yourself as my story suggests?
The medium of photography has been used to create this synergistic collaboration, highlighting my passions of makeup artistry, costuming, and set design.
Within my series of photographs I wanted to recreate four Fairy Tales using the characters most of us already know, attempting to gain an instant connection with viewers. Instead of portraying the current, cliché versions of each story, I wanted to construct my own versions that expose new life lessons which most people are never taught. Why can’t Little Riding Hood walk alone at night, as long as she has something to protect herself? If you had to walk alone at night, would you walk in fear as the classical story suggests or would you be prepared to protect yourself as my story suggests?
The medium of photography has been used to create this synergistic collaboration, highlighting my passions of makeup artistry, costuming, and set design.