Madame Firefly (2022) Collages da Toby Leon

In "Madame Firefly," I offer a spirited reinterpretation of the Orientalist narratives pervasive in classic operas like "Madame Butterfly" and "The Mikado."

Madame Firefly is not a passive, exotic figure but a powerful performer who commands attention and respect. She's not held back by old traditions or other people's ideas about her. She's a firework, lighting up the sky and catching everyone's attention. Set against a vivid, carnivalesque backdrop that oversaturates the norms of classic opera with bright and colourful kitsch.

With her magic tobacco pipe, Madame Firefly stands tall as a fiery, self-determined marvel. Captivating garudas and mink-clad socialites, Eastern and Western elements converge, not in a hierarchy but in a vibrant, dynamic exchange. All watching Madame Firefly scorch the atmosphere — igniting a playful revolt against the constraints that once shackled her.

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Series Statement

My digital collage series, "Candy Babel’s Carnival for Kidults" is a metaphorical midway. Drawing from the ancient narrative of the Tower of Babel, a monument of human audacity that was splintered into a mélange of tongues and cultures, I find connection with echoes of the travelling circus — bringing together disparate groups of people ‘under one tent’. In this reconstructed Babel, the tower becomes a stage, a spectacle, where the othered and the marginalized, the 'freaks,' dare to exist in their full, vibrant humanity. And people pay to see it. Encapsulating the essence of play in its purest form — joyous, unifying, transformative.

In this carnival, play isn’t recreational, it’s revolutionary. The carnival becomes a tableau vivant, where each performance is an act of rebellion and acceptance, a safe space in the most vulnerable of places — on stage. The queer, the different, the non-normative, can all find a home here, shining stars in this periphery.

I present to you a kaleidoscopic world that basks in its rainbow otherness. Revelling in its queerness. Through this work, I hope to engage in a dialogue about the myriad ways in which we express and experience our humanity. I aim to challenge perceptions, to provoke thought, and to celebrate the beautiful complexity of our existence. Come, join the carnival, and rediscover the world through the vibrant lens of Candy Babel's Carnival for Kidults.

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