You know that old question: ‘Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?’ It turns out the answer may be Hannah Emmerson’s feet.

Ms Emmerson has painted various parts of her body to illustrate scenes from well known fairy tales for a Bermuda Society of Arts (BSOA) exhibition called Once Upon a Plan B.

She is sharing the exhibition with her best friend Erika Mattatall. Ms Mattatall is using more traditional materials to take an edgy look at traditional fairy tales. This is their second exhibition together. They did one last year called Exhibit A Plan B.

“We have been best friends since we were little and always artistic,” said Miss Emmerson.

She said the fact that they were both artistic and a little bit competitive helped to push their art forward.

Miss Emmerson started face painting with her mother Rhona Emmerson, for children’s parties and events like Harbour Nights and the Annual Exhibition. She would often go home with visions of face painted butterflies and Spiderman stuck in her head. The face painting was worth it, however, because it gave her the expertise to take her art to another level.

“For this show, I am taking the fairy tales theme and incorporating the body as a canvas,” she said. “I am trying to make each part of the body represent something different,” she said. “Chris Ingham took photographs of my designs. The challenge has been finding poses that are interesting, but still appropriate for all audiences.”

In one piece she turned her foot into a flamingo. In another shot, her foot has become a snail crawling across a flower. In another piece she used her arms and back to depict Peter Pan’s Captain Hook feeding the crocodile his watch.

“Body painting is popular right now and it can get over done,” she said. “The trick was finding my own niche.”

During their first exhibition, the friends’ work flowed together. This time around, they each have their own separate area at BSOA.

“My fairy tales are darker and more like the original Grimms’ Fairy Tales,” said Ms Mattatall. “I am using a variety of materials. I have pencils, pencil crayons, acrylic, and ink. I am also using some fairy tales from Japan. I am half Japanese so very influenced by my ancestry. Fairy tales like Cinderella have a number of different origins.

There is a story called The Wonderful Birch which is a Cinderella-type fairy tale and that is European. You have a whole different variety of cultures which all have similar story concepts. What you know as Cinderella isn’t necessarily your typical Disney story. The idea of ‘happily ever after’ isn’t in any of the original stories. There are a lot of disturbing things that go on in the original fairy tales including rape and cannibalism. There are some stories that are light-hearted and have happy endings.”

She didn’t get too dark with her work, but she said her work is aimed more at adults than young children.

“The show is about exploring our artistic sides and having fun with the theme,” Ms Mattatall said. “It is more about us pushing our artistic limits and deciding where we will go next, and discovering what we are good at and what areas we need to work on. There is a learning curve really.”

Both artists are trained at university level. Miss Emmerson is a jeweller who will be working for local jeweller Alex Mosher after the show. Ms Mattatall is working in the legal department of a local firm.

“I have a law and paralegal certificate,” said Ms Mattatall. “I have worked in a number of law firms over the years. I have watched the lawyers have zero time to themselves. As much as I am sure they love their jobs, I like my life. I have no doubt in my mind if I had become a lawyer I would not be doing any artistic endeavours.”

The artists said they had been deeply influenced and supported by their parents.

Once Upon a Plan B opens at 5pm on Friday at BSOA at City Hall in Hamilton and runs until September 16. However, the BSOA will be closed for renovations from September 8 to 12.