These images evolve as I work, I start with a rough skeleton of fabrics and then flesh out the design as I go. This piece called Bloodlines started with circles of blood, I planned on crocheting them, but in the end wove circles and then added the drips, which evolved into red trees, and finally a path of blood in red sashiko. I like the dark skinned Little Red, I just like the darkness of this piece in contrast to some of the lighter coloured and designed ones I have been working on.
"I try to tell different stories with my drawings. I try to connect with the viewer telling tales." Raquel AparicioThere is a blurry line between the mythology of werewolves and Little Red Riding Hood which increases or decreases according to public tastes and different interpretations of the tale, something I will be exploring later.
"I actually work full time during the week, so I paint into the nights and weekends. I’m usually pretty wrecked at work, but I've pretty much got the painting routine down … take photos and sketch it up in a night, paint the stripes the next night, use the weekend to paint the rest and then start or finish a second painting – then paste!" Urban Cake LadyAlthough 'Urban Cake Lady' makes no direct links in her interview with Invert to Red Riding Hood. The red hood of her principle character and her use of wolves in many of her works is a direct use of the iconography of this folk tale. The evolution of her images has been very interesting, I would have loved to be able to interview her myself.
"I never liked the story of red riding Hood very much, even as a kid. I liked the wolf and it bothered me (and it bothers me) that it always appears as a dangerous animal and that it end up being killed
The iconography associates the wolf as a threat to innocence and I never liked this.
For me, Little Red Riding Hood has to learn a lot from the wolf's wild side. You need to go out into the woods! You come out of that walk in the woods transformed!
However Red Riding Hood's attire has always seemed to me a superhero dress. How cool is a red hood?!!!!
The illustration above is digitally made. The picture was taken in London, by the silver birch trees in front of the Tate Modern. I thought this was a good scene in which to place characters. When I saw the image on my computer I decided they should be Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.
So I drew the characters which later I scanned and digitally colored. I find it easier doing this as I can exactly match the colors with those in the photograph." Natascha Rosenberg
"One serious difficulty in applying a historical perspective to fairy tales in particular (as a subset of the larger category of folktale) is that the fairytale genre appears to be based more on fantasy than fact. (Legends are generally conceded to contain more historical reference than fairy tales, which are typically set in no one place or time.) Another obstacle to extrapolating history from fairy tales is that it is often impossible to ascertain with any degree of accuracy precisely when a specific tale first came into existence." Hans-Wolf Jäger, Little Red Riding Hood edited by Alan Dundes, P89It is impossible to tell, for as usual, it is very difficult to get a true view as to when and who was wearing this garment in the 17th century, especially in the sparsely documented peasant population, but it cannot have sprung from nowhere into the fore, as the garment of the revolution.
Jack Zipes, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, 1993 (P.xi)" (...) the discourse on manners and gender roles in fairy tales has contributed more to the creation of our present-day social norms than we realize. A tale like Little Red Riding Hood was my case in point. It's unique history can reveal to what extent the boundaries of our existence have evolved from male phantasy and sexual struggle for domination. As part of our common heritage, the tale and it's reception through history indicate the hidden power of the commonplace that we neglect or tend to repress."
In contemporary culture Little Red Riding Hood has in a way become an emblem or symbol of the repressed and this is recognized through the use of her iconography in graffiti world wide.
