Childhood fantasies

Like many artists before her, Polixeni Papapetrou concentrates her creative efforts on exploring childhood. She has a nostalgic fascination with dressing up and game-playing of course, but telling stories is what she's most interested in - especially those classic tales of children lost, confused and threatened in the alien adult world. So in these images, she shows due deference to two of the greatest children's storytellers of all time: Lewis Carroll and Hans Christian Andersen. Using both painted backdrops and child actors, Papapetrou stages famous scenes from Alice (directly referencing John Tenniel's illustrations) and from Andersen's most well-known tales - as well as some of her own invention.

Holly Kyte