Tallulah's Doll's House

Tallulah's Dreams was a project I embarked on in 2001. My daughter was two years old and every opportunity I got to tell her stories was a bonus to my often hectic shooting schedule. She would tell me that she didn’t want Cinderella, or Snow White but her own personal stories. I would make up tales about a mischievous little girl who would always be defiant and do whatever she wanted. They were set in a magical house in East London, actually in Fournier St just off Brick Lane. A house full of rooms that she wasn’t allowed into, and where she must remain silent at all times. Rooms occupied by zebras, leopards, giant snakes and crocodiles that would assume human forms to roam the streets. Magpies and crows were at war, and giants patrolled the corridors and would lock her in a wardrobe if she was caught, pinning her hair to the wooden walls of the cabinet. A dolls house that she would play with but with real-life dolls who were terrorised by a giant tarantula. At every opportunity, she would dance wildly and sent the wild beasts into a furor. They were Grimms fairy tales done in a style heavily drawn from Arthur Rackham. Muted colours, pallid skin, deathly qualities brought to life by the force of Tallulah. I would love to make these into a children’s book one day to give to my grandchildren.
Everything was shot on a 5x4 colour neg and we incorporated the high-end fashion of Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.

Tim Bret-Day