For those looking for a journey down the rabbit hole, the upcoming show at the Fifty Fifty Arts Collective is sure to scratch that adventurous itch. Curiouser: Contemporary Responses to Alice in Wonderland is a collection of works from over 15 BC artists that explores some the iconic imagery found in Lewis Carroll’s famous stories.
Laurie Luck, curator at the Fifty Fifty, found inspiration to curate the show not only in her love of the books, but also in her personal ties to where Carroll did his writing.
“I find Oxford to be exceedingly romantic. I was born there and we lived there for a year when I was a baby,” says Luck. “Whenever I’ve been back, it’s amazing just being around the college in that sort of patina of academia, with the ascending staircases that disappear into nowhere. It’s just such a rich environment that I like to transport myself back there.”
When it came to getting artists to participate in the show, Luck found Victoria to be a rich resource for the style she was after.
“I was starting to see some really interesting work, especially with some of the illustrators in town, lots of surreal artwork,” she says. “The show is a nice combination of media: photography, sculpture, jewelry, printmaking, painting, film. They all take from different levels of the book.”
Local artist Tara Williamson jumped at the chance to join some of the greats with an Alice-themed creation of her own.
“So many phenomenal artists throughout time have done work for Alice in Wonderland,” says Williamson. “I can’t really touch [English book illustrator] Arthur Rackham’s version, but it is fun to reinterpret such a classic piece of literature.”
While re-imagining whimsical scenes may seem like fun and games, Williamson found there to be obstacles in the creative process.
“I re-read Alice in Wonderland and I found that challenging,” she says. “I think it’s because the language is so archaic and there’s a lot of repetition. Alice says the same thing over and over through the entire book. She is almost the worst protagonist ever.”
In re-reading the Victorian classic, Williamson found the richness of imagery presented a challenge of its own.
“As much as the protagonist is annoying, the imagery in the book is really unique and weird, so I was having a hard time deciding on what part of the book I wanted to adapt,” she says. “I didn’t want to fall into the trap of doing a stereotypical Disney representation of it.”
While they might not share the same love of the Alice character, Luck and Williamson agree that the world that Carroll created so long ago has an undeniable staying power.
“The books have been translated into 47 different languages and I suppose that’s just a testament to how original they are and how much these characters stand out,” says Luck. “The very vivid imagery that you get from them is what’s really powerful about them.”
Curiouser: Contemporary Responses to Alice in Wonderland
February 22 to March 17
The Fifty Fifty Arts Collective (2516 Douglas Ave.)
thefiftyfifty.net