The Snow Queen

Fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen

Stories play an important role in society. They form connections, build history and culture, as well as transfer values and principles to upcoming generations. Stories also have an influential role in cultivating and developing a child’s imagination. They introduce things and characters that may not be our own reality. When children are beginning to learn to read, the first stage is visual imagery or looking at picture books because imagery has such an important role in bringing a story to life, whether in our minds and imagination, or illustrated for us on the page. You don’t always need to have words to tie the pieces together however, sometimes the imagery can do it all on its own.

When I was young, my mom loved reading stories to us regularly and especially when travelling on the road. I imagined our travels were actually taking us to these imaginary places and times, which made the trips way more interesting and helped the time pass quickly. One story that I have loved learning more about was Hans Christian Andersen’s, “The Snow Queen,” so I decided to illustrate it. It focuses on a struggle between good and evil, demonstrated by the girl Gerda and her friend Kai. This highly acclaimed story has primarily been illustrated for children, so I decided to illustrate this story with photography that it might be geared more towards adults. This popular collection of short stories have circulated through our culture and history as a means to kindle/rekindle a love of stories and the importance they play in our lives.