CLICK HERE TO ZOOM IN ON DETAIL

(2018) "The Tailor's Rule of Thumb" (20" x 20") is the first piece in the German Fairytale Series and was inspired by a story in Heinrich Hoffmann’s book “Struwwelpeter”, a collection of cautionary tales for children.

In Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher ("the story of the thumb-sucker"), a mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs. However, when she goes out of the house he resumes his thumb sucking, until a roving tailor appears and cuts off his thumbs with giant scissors. As a toddler I sucked my thumb so this story resonated with me.

In my rendition St. Nicholas, patron saint of children, looks on ineffectively from the window inscribed with the Latin phrase “Memento Mori” (remember that you have to die).