Grimm fairytales you can touch: The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan – in pictures
Writer-illustrator Shaun Tan turned sculptor for his new book, The Singing Bones, which collects images of the 75 miniature tableaux he made of the Brothers Grimm’s immortal collection of dark, disturbing fairytales
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In The Singing Bones, Shaun Tan reimagines the Brothers Grimm fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel with small, hauntingly macabre sculptures. All photographs: Shaun Tan
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A new medium for the Australian writer and illustrator, the sculptures measure between 6cm and 40cm and each took three days to make. This is his take on the story of All-Kinds-of-Fur
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Tan was inspired by trips to Canada and Mexico, and the works have a primitive feel – here, Rapunzel doubles as her own tower
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Economical with materials and words, Tan’s take on Little Red Riding Hood condenses it to a conversation between the girl and the wolf
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His version of The Frog King focuses on the princess’s dismissive thoughts about her amphibian beau
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‘When you’re working quickly with clay, you never get hooked,’ says Tan of his new medium. Here is The Riddle
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Fans of his work include fellow author Philip Pullman. This is the tale of The Fox and the Cat
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Tan says he wanted to pintpoint ‘the DNA of the tale, the core that haunts people forever’ – like these scissors in The Elves and the Shoemaker
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Is he attracted to the violence in Grimm? ‘If I’m being honest, yes,’ Tan told the Guardian’s Sian Cain. Here he tackles the story of The Singing Bone itself
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‘I can’t handle violence in the real world, but in this transfigured state, it’s kind of playful and interesting’ … Tan’s Snow White
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Since making their way into the book, Tan has sold most of the sculptures, keeping only Hans My Hedgehog and Hansel and Gretel’s gingerbread house
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The Singing Bones in published by Walker in the UK and by Allen & Unwin in Australia. Buy it from the Guardian Bookshop for £16.39, or a collector’s edition for £61.50
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