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Fairy tales and fantasy on campus

The University of Tasmania is currently at the centre of a new international festival celebrating fantasy storytelling.

Lifestyle

Fairy tales, cosplay and storytelling are the focus of a new festival being hosted and supported by the University of Tasmania.

The inaugural Festival of the Fantastic in Australian and Japanese Arts is a celebration of Australian and Japanese fantasy storytelling, with a range of events across Australia and Japan.

The aim is to raise awareness of Australian fantastic arts in Japan and vice versa, to help individual fans and audience communities access new works and creators, and to introduce artists and authors to new audiences and markets.

The festival’s major sponsor is the Australia Japan Foundation and is a joint effort between four universities: the University of Tasmania, the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney, and Kanagawa University in Yokohama, Japan.

Cosplayers Tessu as Satsuki and Emerald L King as Yuto from X/1999 (costumes made/complied by Tessu and Emerald L King, photography by Sammit, edit by Tessu)
Cosplayers Tessu as Satsuki and Emerald L King as Yuto from X/1999 (costumes made/complied by Tessu and Emerald L King, photography by Sammit, edit by Tessu)

Dr Emerald King, Lecturer in Humanities at the University of Tasmania, is one of the organisers and said the festival aimed to bring people together to bring the fantastic arts into the everyday.

Emerald’s research is divided between Japanese women's writing, cosplay as fan translation, and shōjo (girls’) manga and culture. She is also an award-winning cosplayer.

“In many ways, this festival is much a celebration of Australian and Japanese arts as it is a bunch of nerdy academics getting together and working with our literary and art idols,” she said.

“If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the arts are what make life worth living – just think of your COVID self-isolation Netflix/Disney+ binges.”

Having started in Sydney in July, the festival spans several months, with a series of events taking place across the four participating universities until November and being shared online.

The current leg of the festival is underway in Hobart, centring on the University’s Sandy Bay Campus throughout August and September.

One of the exhibits from the Crafting Fantasy exhibition in the Morris Miller Library at the Sandy Bay Campus.
One of the exhibits from the Crafting Fantasy exhibition in the Morris Miller Library at the Sandy Bay Campus.

The centrepiece is an exhibition in the Morris Miller Library, “Crafting Fantasy”, which features artefacts from the writing practice of five Australian fantasy authors: Danielle Wood, Kim Wilkins, Isobelle Carmody, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Cary Lenehan, and the artwork of Kathleen Jennings.

The exhibition plays on ideals of gothic fairy tales and world-building. Each author was asked to provide artifacts and ephemera from their writing practice, which serve as touchstones and talismans on their writing journey.

September 3 will feature a series of writing workshops with Australian fantasy writers, as well as the Crones Knitting Circle, which is essentially and afternoon of casual communal storytelling while crafting.

“You don’t need to be a crone or a knitter,” Emerald said.

And over the weekend of September 3-4 the Icon Cosplay Photo Fest takes place, the first of its kind in Australia.  Cosplayers and photographers are paired up together to go off and do photo shoots around Hobart, using some of our most unique locations as backdrops.

“The format is based on the Wellington Cosplay Photo Fest in New Zealand,” Emerald said. “We assign the cosplayers to a photographer and then they’re set loose around Hobart to do as many shoots as they want.

“Hobart is a small city, so access is easy, there are lots of different types of architecture, and careful use of angles allows you to dupe a lot of things – it could look like anywhere.”

Other events between now and the end of November include:

  • Part two of the Konoike sewing workshop to exhibit finished products in Yokohama
  • A second event in Sydney that will look at kawaii/cute exchanges between Australia and Japan
  • Translation workshops in Brisbane and Yokohama where English/Japanese language users can meet other translators and workshop their translation technique
  • Art events in Yokohama show casing the work of Australian and Japanese artists.

In addition to support from the four universities, the festival was funded  through the Australia Japan Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Kakenhi.

Emerald said she hoped to see the festival become a regular event.

Take a look at the full program for the Festival of the Fantastic in Australian and Japanese Arts.