Work > rapunzels

Rapunzelstiltskin (19 days) is a sculpture that combines elements of two fairy tales from the Brother's Grimm, Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin. In both, young girls are traded away to otherwordly creatures by a parent. Rapunzel is locked in a high tower, and uses her long, golden hair as egress for her captor (and eventually her prince); and Rumpelstiltskin is the name of the captor in his story, in which the girl cannot be released until his (very unusual) name is guessed. She is in danger because her mother promised her to Rumpelstiltskin if he could spin straw into gold, to ensure the mother's marriage to the king. In part, this work looks at how women work at seemingly endless, fruitless tasks to achieve unlikely goals.