Alice in the Garden 

Curator: Look at the curious way Blackman depicts Alice. It’s called “Alice in the Garden.” Editor: Immediately, I am struck by the flatness, almost like a theatrical backdrop. It has a dreamlike quality that's both whimsical and a little unsettling. Curator: Blackman created several of these “Alice” images, a common subject and point of departure, with distinct color relationships, using Alice as a universalized subject of the imagination, lost, and searching, after leaving a dark past behind, the flat-as-paper effect gives a pop-art vibrancy. The color saturation pushes the image right up to the picture plane. Editor: Considering Blackman's background and Australia’s social landscape at the time, one can’t help but wonder about Alice as a symbol for female adolescence and the way patriarchal structures can trap these young women in idealized or, conversely, endangered positions. Curator: Absolutely, and it makes me think about the larger cultural associations and symbolisms within that world – rabbits as tricksters or guides, tea sets evoking both ritual and potential madness. Even her eyes. A touch of psychological darkness. Blackman's imagery possesses an impressive capacity for emotional symbolism. Editor: Exactly. "Alice" also allows us to examine our society’s infantilization of women and, indeed, our own collective nostalgia. Blackman may be engaging in an extended commentary about societal expectations projected onto women like "Alice," and the loss of individual expression. Curator: Very well said, it encapsulates what could happen if the female is stripped down and made into a caricature of their former selves through different social dynamics. The whole painting evokes how societal dynamics will always put people back into different loops of behavior. Editor: This work invites contemplation on the constraints faced, but it encourages an even deeper self-reflection for contemporary female expression to continue.