Fairy tales of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries took a new focus on ‘home’ as a place of relative stability. Protagonists such as Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz seek a return from strange and troubling parallel worlds to the familiarity and safety of their former lives.…
Continue reading » “Fairy Tales: There’s no place like home”
In March we venture into the surreal outer reaches of fairy tale cinema. The enchantment of fairy tales lies in their fantastical elements, which conjure uncanny images like pumpkin carriages, magic carpets, or houses made of gingerbread. Fairy tales significantly influenced the development of Surrealism, with Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) acknowledged as…
Continue reading » “Fairy Tales: Unmissable films & live music in March”
Just as the woods are a recurrent setting in classic fairy tales, gardens are important to many stories told since the nineteenth century. Expectations of gardens as picturesque and orderly are often subverted in these tales. Following the White Rabbit into Wonderland, Alice remarks ‘curiouser and curiouser!’ at her strange surroundings; and Dorothy passes through…
Fairy tales transport us to faraway lands that exist out of time. In much-loved and endlessly retold stories overflowing with kings and queens, castles and carriages, feasts and riches, we find adventure, community, happiness and love. Celebrating classic tales of enchantment, transformation and caution, together with contemporary retellings by creative storytellers, the exhibition explores how…
‘Birds of Passage’, a display in Queensland Art Gallery’s Philip Bacon Galleries opening 24 February 2024, sees the works of artists Ian Fairweather and Paul Jacoulet illustrating the influence of travel and cross-cultural experience on their respective works. In bringing together these artists, the Gallery celebrates the power of cultural exchange in creative practice. ‘Birds…
Continue reading » “Birds of Passage: The influence of travel & cross-cultural experience”
In the world of the fairy tale, witches and crones are not the only characters who generate mistrust and fear — ‘others’, outsiders and so-called misfits pushed to the margins of society, figure prominently in many tales. In these stories, people living outside the norm are branded as villains or monsters. The Beast from ‘Beauty…
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.