Across a magical threshold and beyond the everyday, ‘Fairy Tales’ is this summer’s enchanting exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) with more than 100 works presented across the entire ground floor until 28 April 2024. ‘Fairy Tales’ will re-tell the enduring folk stories of your childhood through the lens of contemporary artists, designers, and filmmakers.
Buy Tickets to ‘Fairy Tales’
Until 28 April 2024
Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Watch your favourite movies on the big screen in the accompanying free film program ‘Fairy Tales Cinema: Truth, Power and Enchantment’ featuring over 40 films at the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA, and take home the major publication Fairy Tales in Art and Film that explores how fairy tales have held our fascination for centuries through art and culture. Follow our curator’s pick of five unmissable films each month during the program.
DELVE DEEPER: Journey through the ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition with our weekly series
Del Kathryn Barton ‘The Nightingale and the Rose‘ (still) 2015
Production still from ‘The Company of Wolves’ 1984
Bringing together artists, film makers and designers — the exhibition includes works encompassing sculpture, installation, painting, photography, printmaking, paper cuts, animation, video art, film, props and costumes — all celebrating a much-loved genre of storytelling, and even the hidden realm of augmented reality.
Timothy Horn ‘Glass slipper (ugly blister)’ 2001
‘Fairy Tales’ is an adventure that will inspire, and delight as it reminds us how timeworn narratives can be remixed and updated to both surprise and disconcert audiences. Explore the classic archetypes of powerful witches, magical beasts, and spirited princesses, and look at how artists have unravelled the iconic visual motifs of the genre, from stories of children coming of age and ageing, the shifting role of gender and otherness, tales of bravery and justice, loyalty and humility, cunning and aspiration, bringing together well-known visual motifs of woods and trees, mirrors and blood, impossible shoes and clothing for royalty, castles and coaches, and at least one pumpkin.
Timothy Horn ‘Mother-load‘ 2008
The exhibition’s first chapter, ‘Into the Woods’, dramatically explores metamorphosis, unpredictability, and danger. Corupira 2023, a major new commission by Brazilian sculptor Henrique Oliviera, envelops the visitor in a twisted forest fashioned from found tree branches, plywood, and strips of salvaged timber.
Other works in the first chapter investigating classic tales and reinterpretations include Gustave Doré’s Little Red Riding Hood c.1862 (illustrated), Kiki Smith’s wolfish self-portrait Born 2022, Anish Kapoor’s dual concave mirror Red and Black Mist Magenta 2018, Jana Sterbak’s glass coffin Inside 1990, Trulee Hall’s Witch House (Umbilical Coven) 2023, a gown from Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête 1946; reproductions of the Sky, Sun and Moon dresses worn by Catherine Deneuve in Jacques Demy’s film Peau d’Âne 1970, and Abdul Abdullah’s haunting photographic series Coming to Terms 2015.
Gustave Doré ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ 1862
Drawing on the childhood imagination, the second chapter, ‘Through the Looking Glass’, is filled with puppets, toys, clocks, twirling mushrooms, and flying houses. It features immersive, otherworldly gardens populated with unusual creatures and enhanced by augmented reality.
Highlights include Maurice Sendak’s iconic images from his 1963 book Where the Wild Things Are and costumes by the Jim Henson Creature Shop for the 2009 film adaptation; the thirteen-hour clock, glass orbs and a costume worn by David Bowie in Henson’s Labyrinth 1986; Carsten Höller’s interactive sculpture Flying Mushrooms 2015; and Enchanted Field 2023, a major installation by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini that opens a magical pathway beneath a canopy of 3000 genetically modified blooms.
Polixeni Papapetrou ‘I’m not myself you see’ 2004
The final chapter of the exhibition ‘Ever After’ celebrates the myriad ways that love and relationships plays out in fairy tales, with a focus on the tropes of marriage in ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Snow White’. Along with incredible costumes designed by Eiko Ishioka for the 2012 film Mirror Mirror (illustrated) and Timothy Horn’s Mother-load 2008 (illustrated), a sumptuously embellished stagecoach created from crystalised rock sugar, this chapter includes Ron Mueck’s sculpture Pinocchio 1996, Henri Matisse’s stunning ballet costume Costume for a mourner c.1920, and Del Kathryn Barton and Brendan Fletcher’s fantastic animation The Nightingale and the Rose 2015 (illustrated).
‘Fairy Tales’ is an exhibition sure to delight young and old, and definitely not to be missed these summer holidays.
Production still from ‘Mirror Mirror’ 2012
‘Yellow dress’ from ‘Mirror Mirror‘ 2012
Production still from ‘Mirror Mirror’ 2012
‘Cream wedding dress’ from ‘Mirror Mirror‘ 2012
The ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition is at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Australia from 2 December 2023 until 28 April 2024.
‘Fairy Tales Cinema: Truth, Power and Enchantment‘ presented in conjunction with GOMA’s blockbuster summer exhibition screens at the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA from 2 December 2023 until 28 April 2024.
The major publication ‘Fairy Tales in Art and Film’ available at the QAGOMA Store and online explores how fairy tales have held our fascination for centuries through art and culture.
From gift ideas, treats just for you or the exhibition publication, visit the ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition shop at GOMA or online.
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The “ Out of The Woods” exhibition looks amazing! Hope you can bring it to Melbourne! The ABC radio interview was fascinating too! Fairy tales were a great part of my childhood and many bedtime stories. They hold so many aspects in Fairy Tales-cautionary tales,tragedy,comedy,class,culture,joy,fear,romance,love. They are often underestimated. regards Helen.