A Series of Works Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice books
Lewis Carroll’s Alice books have been a long-standing influence on Alex Mayhew’s artistic practice. Raised in Brighton’s Sussex Square, with its private gardens and concealed tunnel long associated in local mythology with Carroll’s Alice universe, Alex developed an early and enduring connection to the world of Wonderland. This was further embedded through a childhood ritual of his father reading the books aloud, where their dream logic, shifting identities, and psychological ambiguity first took root—forming an early imaginative framework that would later re-emerge in his work.
Engaging with Carroll’s universe became a natural extension of this early fascination: a pleasurable and instinctive act of reinterpretation rather than obligation, shaped by a visual and psychological language formed in childhood.
The works themselves are not literal illustrations of the narrative, but independent artistic responses in which key figures from the Alice universe are reimagined through semi-abstract composition and character study. Moving between whimsy and psychological tension, they interweave moments of lightness with darker undertones, reflecting the unstable nature of perception and identity. The works ultimately seek to honour Carroll’s vision while asserting a distinct contemporary voice within it.
