They weren't supposed to be here. Lost behind the carnival's reverie, looking for a way back to their carriage, they'd stumbled upon this dreamscape instead. A playground for the players, and... was that a unicorn playing fetch with a dragon? Backstage, anything was possible. And as they stood hypnotised — unnoticed amidst the hullabaloo — the two of them wondered aloud (without making a sound) if they might just be lost forever...

Sources Of Inspiration

Through the Looking Glass • Parties in the wilderness I danced through far too young • Kaleidoscopes • Graeme Base • Willy Wonka

—

Series Statement

My digital collage series, "Candy Babel’s Carnival for Kidults" is a metaphorical midway. Drawing from the ancient narrative of the Tower of Babel, a monument of human audacity that was splintered into a mélange of tongues and cultures, I find connection with echoes of the travelling circus — bringing together disparate groups of people ‘under one tent’. In this reconstructed Babel, the tower becomes a stage, a spectacle, where the othered and the marginalized, the 'freaks,' dare to exist in their full, vibrant humanity. And people pay to see it. Encapsulating the essence of play in its purest form — joyous, unifying, transformative.

In this carnival, play isn’t recreational, it’s revolutionary. The carnival becomes a tableau vivant, where each performance is an act of rebellion and acceptance, a safe space in the most vulnerable of places — on stage. The queer, the different, the non-normative, can all find a home here, shining stars in this periphery.

I present to you a kaleidoscopic world that basks in its rainbow otherness. Revelling in its queerness. Through this work, I hope to engage in a dialogue about the myriad ways in which we express and experience our humanity. I aim to challenge perceptions, to provoke thought, and to celebrate the beautiful complexity of our existence. Come, join the carnival, and rediscover the world through the vibrant lens of Candy Babel's Carnival for Kidults.