Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433736
The murals throughout the apartment focus on themes of life and death, time, harvest and history. Many of them use symbols and imagery common in medieval artwork. Moon phases were incorporated into each of the murals to express the passage of time, repeating cycles and the turning from a path of light to darkness, which is an important aspect of atacha's arc. The Art epartment used writing systems and symbols, common in both alchemy and occult writings dating back to the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Alchemical symbols are used at doorways or junctures, with opposites anking each side (ex: life/death, sun/moon, creation/ destruction), while the writings act as warnings to those who can read them, or foretell what may occur. The further into the apartment one goes, the more occult and fantastical the murals become— they tell stories, either real histories or hints at what will unfold as the movie unfolds. They are intended to whet the curiosities of both the viewer and the children who are captured by the apartment. The murals in the main hallway focus on two mirrored histories, the personal history of the witch who owns the apartment, and on witches in general. The story of Hansel and Gretel originates in German folklore based on the events of the Great Famine in people starved, and some resorted to cannibalism. From this, the concept of the hungry woman evolved, a woman, who, driven by hunger, would resort to eating not only her own children, but the children of others. On the left side of the hall, the events of this history unfold. The witch lived in times of great famine hundreds of years ago, she had a family, but ultimately became one of the hungry women who, in order to survive, sacrificed her children to the ame. The right side of the hall shows the history of witches at large E. GRIZELDA'S APARTMENT. HALLWAY. SET PHOTO. F. GRIZELDA'S APARTMENT. HALLWAY MURAL. SET PHOTO. G. GRIZELDA'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN FLOOR DESIGN BY JESS SHERIDAN. H. GRIZELDA'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN. SET PHOTO. E F G H