Nicoletta Ceccoli — is an artist from San Marino who has been illustrating various children's books for 20 years. She has been repeatedly awarded the most prestigious prizes, including the Andersen Award as the best children's illustrator of the year. But many of Ceccoli's illustrations are better not to show to children at all, as they resemble a deception in a colorful package - at first glance everything is fine, cute princess girls with doll faces are doing their fairy-tale things, but if you look closely, even adults become uncomfortable.
Game over. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
Ceccoli acts as a researcher of children's fears and nightmares, her paintings are filled with otherworldly mysticism, contain various hidden meanings and symbols, and their very content often leaves much room for ambiguous interpretations. They are full of melancholy and sadness, and the images themselves resemble surrealistic fantasies with various subtexts, but usually always negative.
Big bad liar. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
Ceccoli often refers in her work to fairy tales and fairy tale images, but all these princesses in her paintings do not look like the classic and familiar to us from childhood. They are not those lovely and defenseless creatures who sit in the tower and wait for a beautiful knight on a white horse to save them. Ceccoli princesses may look like fairy-tale princesses, but they hide cruel and dark secrets that make them real monsters.
Contrary Mary. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
The artist herself says that she draws these illustrations exclusively for adults and they allow you to think about the inner essence of man, that the beautiful and the terrible are next to each other and often coexist in one person.
Eat me drink me. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
In Ceccoli's opinion, everything that is attractive has a dark side, as she has experienced firsthand. So her paintings are a metaphorical reflection of her view of the world and the relationships between people.
Siamese heart. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
My puppy is scared.Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
The artist considers all her female characters to be her alter egos, reflecting her personal experiences and thoughts. And they have supernatural powers, partly resembling real witches with angelic doll faces. Ceccoli says that these paintings are inspired by her personal stories, but they are universal and each viewer can find something different in them.
The sweetest journey. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
It is not by chance that many paintings depict various sweets, which here act as a kind of temptation, hiding a considerable danger to beauty and slenderness.
Just dessert. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
In other works of Ceccoli there is a motif of flight, symbolizing the desire to escape from the real world in a cozy own, where it is calm and safe. She confesses that by nature she is a reserved person, does not like noisy companies and long communication in a collective. That's why she took up painting, which gives her the opportunity to create quietly at home and partially isolates her from the real world.
Love letters. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
Snow White. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
But at the same time, she is glad that she has managed to preserve the childish part of her soul, sincerely considers childhood to be the freest time for a person, and often communicates with a children's audience. Of course, she draws completely different illustrations for children, much more familiar and “normal”, but she does not slip into garishness and primitivism.
Mary go round. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
However, Ceccoli believes that the modern approach of trying to shield children from everything scary and negative, in fact, can do more harm than good. Scary drawings allow the child to overcome their inner fears, they are a way of learning about the world, the opportunity to grow up and look at some things from a different perspective. Therefore, do not exclude from children's books such topics as death and puberty.
Almost Alice. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
Who’s bad. Source: nicolettaceccoli.com
But many people do not share this approach and believe that childhood should still remain childhood, without unnecessary worries inspired by Ceccoli's works. And what do you think, whether such drawings can be shown to children - write in the comments.
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