‘The Snow, The Crow and The Blood’ is a solo exhibition of work by Layla Holzer which has been inspired by the enchanting and subversive writing of Angela Carter. Carter was a British novelist and journalist who studied English Literature at the University of Bristol, and is famously known for her re-imagined fairy tales, gothic, post-apocalyptic and picaresque stories.

Carter’s stories and essays have been inspiring my work for many years, with themes and motifs regularly appearing in her often monochromatic, dream-like paintings, and films of uncanny wooden puppets and shadows. Many of my narratives are self-penned, but they echo Carter’s magic worlds that are rife with the haunting curiosity of forests, and both the ghastly and innocent beasts that roam within. To coincide with the Royal West of England Academy show ‘Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter’, ‘The Snow, The Crow and The Blood’ presents my own celebration of Carter’s work, directly illustrating key stories and ideas that have inspired me.

‘The Snow, The Crow and The Blood’ includes paintings, paper cuts, objects, and puppet films, all inspired by a selection of Carter’s work. This includes Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, The Passion of New Eve, The Magic Toyshop, plus selected stories from the Burning Your Boats and poetry collections. Focusing particularly on themes of gender, animal-human relationships, metamorphosis and fairy tales, the exhibition presents a fresh, contemporary exploration of Carter’s ideas and take them beyond the written page.