Fairy tales have followed me all my life, from the bedtime stories I grew up with to the dark, twisted versions that found me later as an artist. I was always drawn to the parts people tend to skip: the blood on the spindle, the girl who runs into the woods instead of being saved. These stories were never just about princesses and magic; they were warnings, confessions, and fragments of human truth dressed in glitter.
Finding Myself in the Myths
When I began illustrating fairy-tale-inspired pieces, I didn’t realize I was painting versions of myself. Each character… lonely, furious, or defiant, became a mirror for something unspoken. The fairy-tale setting gave me permission to explore emotions I couldn’t easily name: grief, isolation, transformation. Through these reinterpretations, I found a language for my own stories, one that didn’t need to explain itself to anyone.
The Beauty Beneath the Dark
People often think of darkness as something ugly, but I see it as honest. The shadows in these tales carry the weight of our humanity… fear, desire, loss. My illustrations live there, in that blurred space between innocence and decay. I’m less interested in making something “pretty” and more in making something true. Because sometimes beauty is found in what’s broken, in what refuses to stay silent.
Fairy Tales as Memory
Every time I draw, I return to those old stories like an archaeologist digging through ash and glass. What fascinates me isn’t the “happily ever after,” it’s what comes before and what lingers after. Fairy tales, to me, are memory: collective, inherited, reshaped through each telling. My work is just one more retelling, stitched together with fragments of who I am and what I’ve survived.
Closing Thoughts… Or Maybe an Opening?
I don’t think I’ll ever stop drawing from these stories. They’re my way of remembering how to feel without censoring it, of making peace with the parts of me that don’t fit into polite conversation. The princess doesn’t always need saving. Sometimes she burns the castle down and walks away.
