Welcome to Zoolanderart
presenting the work of Visual Artist, Joolie Green The Donkey Skin Girl - self portrait Acrylic
on canvas 30x40cm
The story of
The Donkey Skin Girl was a favourite fairytale that my younger sister
and I both loved as little girls and we reread the story many times. The story
of a very old king and the princess who did not want to marry him. She asked
for three dresses which she thought would be impossible: one like the sky, one
like the moon and a third like the sun.
The king unfortunately obliged.
Then she asked for the skin of his favourite magic donkey thinking that
would be impossible. Unfortunately, after much soul searching, the king presented
her with his treasure. She was devastated.
And so the princess fled in her donkey skin and became a poor girl
working on a farm in her dirty greasy donkey skin. One day she put on her gown
that shone like the sun when a prince was passing by, saw her and fell in love
with her. As princes do.
This story has resonance with me, and I have
carried it with me for years.
Beauty on
the inside and ugliness on the outside waiting for someone special to find the
beauty of the self within.
In this picture, I have enjoyed the
playfulness of creating a Sydney landscape, my princess dress of wattle and
sunshine, feeding the chooks, and a donkey head with a manic expression, the
outcome of which I had absolutely no control.
I am looking rather manic myself, but after
carrying around this image of a donkey skin on my head for decades
(metaphorically) it is not surprising I look a little manic too. Is it?
