Curious maidens

Abstract

How did a story that was recorded centuries ago by two German brothers inspire me to immerse paper within pots of boiling eucalyptus leaves? The Handless Maiden is a relatively obscure fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm which tells the story of a young girl who, when betrayed and maimed by her family, takes off into the forest to find her own pathway in the world. This traditional German fairy tale has intrigued me since first reading it as a teenager, and it is this story which continues to inform my studio work, research and, accordingly, this paper.

My paper, Curious Maidens, investigates the relationship between the fairy tale, The Handless Maiden, the process of plant dyeing, and the art work to have emerged from my studio research, Curious Maidens (series 1-19) . The paper identifies the notion of wonderment and curiosity as playing central and dynamic roles within each of these three elements. This emotive link, and the nature of curiosity within fairy tales in general, is explored through an investigation of American artist Kiki Smith’s sculpture Daughter, 1999 and substantiated by the theories by Bruno Bettleheim, Marina Warner and Jack Zipes. Curious Maidens concludes by identifying how an active and open curiosity to life can be an empowering, potent and transformative function for females both within fairy tales, and also within life.