This is a retelling of the fairytale Snow White. With the style of a medieval manuscript, I made a picture book within 4 weeks.

In my version of Snow White, the focus of the story is on the queen, who had deep anxiety towards beauty. In the story, the Queen was told by the mirror that she needs to keep her body slim and beautiful so that she will not be abandoned by the king, and that Snow White was her biggest threat. She put poisonous cosmetics on her face to look white and did surgery to took out her bones to be slim. In the end of the story, Snow White and the prince returned to the castle. The Queen was still asking the mirror “Who is the fairest of all“, but the mirror didn’t answer. The mirror was just a normal mirror, and it was men who kept saying the words and make her think that way. After Snow White became the new queen, she remembers the words that other men say to the previous queen, and started to worry her appearance as well.

I made the hard cover of the book with laser cutter , and have attached a mirror at back cover of the book, so after the reader finished reading the book, they will see themselves through their reflections in the mirror. For the detail of the book, I used scratch effect on all male characters so that we cannot see their face - only female need a good appearance, and how male characters look does not matter. I also designed the Capital letters on each page, so they are related to mirrors or female bodies.

Through this retelling, I was aiming to ask the reader to realize the situation of anxiety of beauty for female through generations, to raise awareness for male gaze and patriarchy , and to reflect their past experience.

This story has been told many times, but I think this version contains my own understanding and reflection of the problem. As long as such problem still exist in the world, it is necessary to address them again and again.