The Transition (Uncanny Girl)
Artist: Teresa Wilson
Year: 2019
Medium: Sculpture. Medium: textiles, wire, gesso, watercolour, vintage nightdress, boned corset, wig.
Dimensions: 128 x 31 x 17 cm
Materials: Textiles, wire, shorts, T shirt, faux fur gilet, gesso, watercolour, mixed media
About:
A soft sculpture figure of a girl made from textiles and wire. She has long reddish blonde hair and is wearing an ivory white cotton dress and red shoes.
Size: 128 cm high
31 cm wide, measured across the shoulders
17 cm depth
The sculpture doll can be arranged in a sitting position on a chair or sofa or can be hung from the ceiling with invisible fishing line.
The story behind the work:
Transition (Uncanny Girl) and a slightly later work Nubility (Heart in her Hands) both explore the feelings of tension, fear, and courage which dominate the psychological space between girl and adulthood.
The Cinderella tradition is very ancient; it has its roots in pre-Christian religious beliefs and since then there have been many versions of the story from all over the world.
In fairytales, as in dreams, things both are and are not what they seem to be. Innocent tales for children such as Cinderella, or one of the hundreds of variations of a similar tale, have hidden psychological and sexual meanings. In Freudian analysis, the tale is about the rite of passage of a girl into adulthood. As Philip Pullman has written...
"Cinderella, in every one of the hundreds of variations on the basic story, is not alone: she has a helper. A surrogate mother, in fact: the fairy godmother, a rose tree that grows from her mother's grave, a cow, the mossy coat...always, in principle, an older female who has herself safely negotiated the perils of the journey towards maturity and whose task is to help the girl make the same passage". (From 'Great Fairytales' booklet published in the Guardian).
Exhibition history:
Exhibition: Shown at Inch Arts Gallery, Altrincham, Cheshire https://www.inch-arts.co.uk/
November 2019, part of a larger installation entitled The Winter Gathering of the Lost Children.
