How did fairytales shape society’s view on women?
This book is a documentation of our research.
To uncover how every little girl’s childhood heroes shape society’s idea of the perfect woman, we asked more than forty people in the centre of Rotterdam questions about fairytale princesses. Then used their answers to write a new collective fairytale – the tale about The Fucking Princess (people's words, not ours).
> Read The Fairytale
> Print your Workbook
We focused on the often idealized princess archetype, using the familiarity of fairytales as a tool for questioning the stereotypes hidden within them.
Visitors were invited to sit in our pillow fort for a cozy storytime, with tea and biscuits.
As we read the tale, that feeling of comfort we created was suddenly disrupted, revealing the traces that fairytales have left in our societal beliefs.
The tale ended openly, inviting them to imagine the princess's future through a workbook involving colouring, puzzles, and space to write.
Exhibition
“Mapping Relationality - Where audience becomes art”
Cultuur & Campus Putselaan, Rotterdam
by the third-year Honours Programme students of Willem de Kooning Academie, 2026
Project by
Alyssa Merlini, Pavlína Šafářová, Yiwen Zheng, Svajūnė Jedinkutė
Graphic Design &
Illustrations by
Svajūnė Jedinkutė
Book Manufacture
Alyssa Merlini, Pavlína Šafářová, Svajūnė Jedinkutė
Installation
Alyssa Merlini, Pavlína Šafářová, Yiwen Zheng
Workbook
Pavlína Šafářová, Yiwen Zheng
Photography
Yiwen Zheng