Dante's Heart
An Interview with Michelle Boulad
...life from a fresh perspective? I prefer a subtle approach to presenting a
concept, coaxing the viewer to stop and wonder what is going on in the work.
Like leading someone halfway through the forest, then leaving them to choose
which path to take to the other side.
DH: What first prompted you to look into fairy tales?
MB: I suppose the real surprise is that I didn’t look into them sooner. I’ve had a
love for good fairy tales since my childhood, especially the traditional versions
of the older folk stories, and my first love, mythology. These old stories are so
tantalisingly different from the stories we tell children these days, with themes
that would never make it past the censors in our modern world. These stories
speak to us out of a past of rich oral tradition, but it is a past I think is closer to
our true nature as human beings with the thin mask of modernity stripped off.
It was shortly after reading a lovely book of fairy tales, Angela Carter's Book
of Fairy Tales, that I found myself painting my first fairy tale painting in what has
now become a series. I started out playing around with an art nouveau style
border just for fun, and suddenly found myself painting a scene out of
Thumbelina. This has happened to me a few times, where I just start scribbling
something and find myself painting something completely out of the blue. I love
when that happens, it’s a bit like getting a nudge from your subconscious to head
in a certain direction. We should never ignore that nudge.
Page 3
...life from a fresh perspective? I prefer a subtle approach to presenting a
concept, coaxing the viewer to stop and wonder what is going on in the work.
Like leading someone halfway through the forest, then leaving them to choose
which path to take to the other side.
DH: What first prompted you to look into fairy tales?
MB: I suppose the real surprise is that I didn’t look into them sooner. I’ve had a
love for good fairy tales since my childhood, especially the traditional versions
of the older folk stories, and my first love, mythology. These old stories are so
tantalisingly different from the stories we tell children these days, with themes
that would never make it past the censors in our modern world. These stories
speak to us out of a past of rich oral tradition, but it is a past I think is closer to
our true nature as human beings with the thin mask of modernity stripped off.
It was shortly after reading a lovely book of fairy tales, Angela Carter's Book
of Fairy Tales, that I found myself painting my first fairy tale painting in what has
now become a series. I started out playing around with an art nouveau style
border just for fun, and suddenly found myself painting a scene out of
Thumbelina. This has happened to me a few times, where I just start scribbling
something and find myself painting something completely out of the blue. I love
when that happens, it’s a bit like getting a nudge from your subconscious to head
in a certain direction. We should never ignore that nudge.
Page 3
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