Katie
Bootland
"Over-grown"
In exploring the memories and associations of childhood, this work begins to deconstruct the myth of it being a perpetual state of innocence and timelessness. This perception of childhood as a fixed condition stems from a western culture of fairy-tales often subverted by a patriarchal authority for political needs. This project investigates earlier folk tales, where the emphasis was on a mixed audience, in both gender and age, and a celebration of growth. In redressing the balance of beauty and horror, playfulness and maliciousness, the work draws upon the messages of sexuality, nature and domestication inherent in folklore, superstition and gothic romanticism.
