My Life Dreams is a series of small-scale digitally manipulated images made by Swiss artist Annelies Strba in response to the Brontës and the Parsonage.
Funded by Arts Council England, the exhibition forms part of the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s contemporary arts programme and takes direct inspiration from the 1935 edition of Wuthering Heights illustrated by the artist Balthus.
The world that Strba creates is an entirely feminine one in which her daughters and granddaughters (always central to Strba’s work) appear as ethereal figures suspended in dream-like landscapes.
As a result, Strba’s romantic world is populated by long-haired waifs who wander through mysterious forests in soft-focussed and brightly colourised photographs. These resemble daguerreotypes or conjure a world somewhere between the work of Julia Margaret Cameron and Lewis Carroll.
Strba draws inspiration from a diverse range of locations and subjects, including her own life in Melide, Switzerland, the earthquake stricken city of Kobe, the gloom of Auschwitz and the Cottingley Fairies.
For this latest Brontë-inspired project, the works have been given an added dimension by their imaginative placement throughout the Brontë Parsonage Museum, in spaces and places within the period rooms and among the Brontës' own possessions.
“We are tremendously excited to be working with Annelies Strba and this exhibition continues the museum’s programming of bold visual arts projects,” said Jenna Holmes, Arts Officer of the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
“Annelies Strba’s images visualise her emotional responses to the Brontës' radical creativity and these vibrant images placed among the Brontës' possessions in this way create powerful connections between the imaginative worlds of the Brontës and Strba’s own contemporary artistic practice."
