Beyond Grimm: how I created The Dawn And The Nightmare

The painting you see is Van Gogh's Blossoming Almond Tree, and it's what started it all. I was an 18 years old funny thing back then, when during art class I was asked to create my own version of Van Gogh's masterpiece. An image appeared in my mind: a dark tree, covered in crystals of ice, big black ravens on its branches. My professor praised the concept, but a good grade wasn't enough. Inspiration didn't stop running. As I arrived home I started running through some ''Snow White aesthetic'' moodboards I had saved (thanks Tumblr, you used to be good once) and the ice of my painting created a question that remained frozen in my mind for over 5 years: ''Why was Snow White the fairest?'' She had to be special for some reason. And so I re-re-read for the 1000th time Grimm's fairytale, watched all movie versions of the fairytale, investigated about the real story behind the folk tale. Nothing. No one was able to tell my why she was so special. It was then that I realized something that never occurred to me before: I had no idea what the heck happened before the once upon a time and after the happily ever after, why was she considered the most beautiful among other girls, what illness made her orphan, what had the evil queen to endure that turned her so evil, what magic the mirror had, did she and the prince end up happy together. I had no answers to those questions, and I wondered: what if things weren't exactly as we have been always told? What if there are thing we don't know of Snow White? That's why I created The Dawn And The Nightmare, to give those questions some answers. Those stories came to me, every day for 5 years I tried telling them as my characters recounted. I remember studying a spanish author, Unamuno, who considered his characters real and I couldn't not follow his philosophy: for 5 years I have been surrounded by these people from another time, another world, a world of magic and gods, and for 5 years they shared with me their lives, their loves, their struggles, their desires, their flaws and perks. And I can't wait to share them with you.