Join curator Olivia Ahmad in conversation with painter and illustrator Clive Hicks-Jenkins and Design for Today’s Joe Pearson as they discuss Clive’s reinventions of Hansel & Gretel, including his most recent work illustrating Simon Armitage’s retelling of the classic tale.

In the past, Clive has reimagined the Grimms’ fairytale as a picture book, a toy theatre for Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop and a touring musical theatre production. Now he’s brought Hansel & Gretel firmly into the 21st century.

Clive’s illustrations for Simon Armitage’s extended narrative poem, Hansel & Gretel: A Nightmare in Eight Scenes, tell a tale of refugees, homelessness and bombed-out villages in a landscape where nothing is quite as it seems.

Clive will talk about deconstructing and reimagining a classic tale across multiple formats for different audiences, while Joe will explain how Design for Today transformed these contemporary fairy tale landscapes into printed imagery for book format.

Signed copies of the beautiful 96 page hardback will be available to buy on the night ahead of the official launch date.

Clive Hicks-Jenkins is a Welsh artist with a background as a choreographer and theatre director. He works through the mediums of narrative painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, maquettes, animation and artist’s books and is represented in all the main public collections in Wales.

Joe Pearson is an established collector and writer on mid-century lithography and the founder of Design for Today - a small press and publisher, launched in the summer of 2015, with the aim of working with designers and illustrators to create limited edition books, cards and prints for collectors and enthusiasts.

Olivia Ahmad is curator at House of Illustration, the UK’s only public gallery dedicated to illustration and graphic arts, where she is responsible for its programme of exhibitions, artist residencies and commissions. Since 2018 Olivia has also been editor of Varoom, the AOI’s contemporary illustration magazine.

Please note that latecomers arriving after 7.15pm may not be admitted.