If you’ve visited the Rose Art Museum this past semester, you may have encountered the beautifully abstract artworks of British-Mexican artist, Leonora Carrington. From her sketches to her paintings, Carrington’s surrealistic pieces transport viewers to new realms, constructing alternate realities where our world is blended with the unimaginable. 

Carrington’s ability to blend the absurd with reality extends beyond the canvas. Throughout her career, she wrote numerous novels and short stories, each remaining rooted in the surrealist tradition. For example, her famous 1939 short story “The Debutante,” is a brief yet captivating tale that centers around a young girl who befriends a hyena at the local zoo. The girl, a debutante, expresses her frustration to the hyena about having to attend a ball her mother is hosting in her honor. The hyena, trapped in its own bleak existence at the zoo, tells the girl she is lucky. In an unexpected twist, the debutante decides to send the hyena to the ball in her place, leading to a truly colorful evening. Given the bizarre tale, numerous artists have attempted to reimagine Carrington’s story on the big screen. On March 20, the Rose hosted three of these filmmakers, Elizabeth Hobbs and Nat and Veronica Moonhill to share their interpretations of Carrington’s work. 

Elizabeth Hobbs, an animated filmmaker based in London, utilized her dynamic, sketchy style to depict “The Debutante.” Her rendition captured the comical, lighthearted nature of the story while staying relatively true to the original plot line. Hobbs’ film was shortlisted for the Animated Short Film Award at the 95th Academy Awards. 

Nat and Veronica Moonhill are Los Angeles based-filmmakers whose interpretation exists in a fascinating contrast to Hobbs’. Rather than animating the story, the two opted for a live action depiction, taking more liberties with their interpretation of Carrington’s piece. They recognized the dysphoric experience of the debutante as she faces an event meant to usher her into womanhood, choosing to emphasize the story’s genderqueer themes through their creative execution. Nat and Veronica’s rendition of “The Debutante” was thus hilariously absurd and campy. 

Moderating the discussion between these three filmmakers was Madeleine Delpha, Assistant Director of Programs and Community Engagement at the Rose. To begin the conversation, Delpha asked the artists why they chose to tell “The Debutante” nearly 90 years after its original publication. 

For Hobbs, Carrington’s piece was both surprising and refreshing, particularly because it centers on an upper-class woman. Nat and Veronica Moonhill agreed with Hobbs’ observation about the unexpected nature of the story, but they also expanded on its deeply queer themes. They interpreted the debutante as a “gender queer character, as someone who is being forced into a feminine role that is deeply repulsive to her.” Their view of the debutante as a mischievous, dark and complex character underscored the contemporary relevance of Carrington’s work — even though it was conceived nearly 90 years ago.

Next, Delpha brought some visuals to the screen. The first was Leonora Carrington’s “Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)” which she painted from 1937-1938, around the same time as she wrote “The Debutante.” In this piece, like many others, Carrington leaned into animal symbolism. The portrait features a white rocking horse as well as a white horse running outside the window. The white horse, according to art historian Whitney Chadwick, is a sign of liberation and transformation. More interesting however, is the lactating hyena, who’s pose emulates Carrington’s own figure. According to Delpha, Carrington once said, “I’m like a hyena. I get into garbage cans. I have an insatiable curiosity.” 

Given the reflective nature of the hyena, the animal being a mirror of Carrington herself, Delpha asked the filmmakers to share how they chose to deal with the creature’s presentation. For Nat and Veronica, they became obsessed with understanding the interaction between the debutante’s femininity and the hyena during the writing process. From their research, they learned that female hyenas “have a pseudo penis” that they give birth through and even have sex with, so hyenas are already doing a lot of gender bending.” With this complexity in mind, Nat and Veronica chose to depict the hyena as a “a threat that then becomes a love interest slash friend slash gateway to freedom.” In the film itself, the unique nature of the hyena and its relationship to the debutante truly shines. Played by dancer Jasmine Albuquerque, the hyena was both sinister and sultry, demonstrating the femininity of a debutante without shying away from the wildness of the animal. 

Hobbs also explored the absurdity of the hyena, modeling her portrayal after Jean Harlow, ‘who, in the films of the ‘30s, was always just a little bit off. She was constantly wearing things that were slightly too fluffy or tight, or in colors that were a bit wrong.’ Hobbs’ hyena embodied the tension between a woman and her struggle to fully conform to societal standards, once again underscoring the poignant and contemporary relevance of Carrington’s original story. Truly fascinating about Hobbs’ approach however was her execution. In animating the film, Hobbs used rotoscoping, an animation technique in which one traces over live action scenes frame by frame. She explained how she used shots of Jean Harlso, Hedi Lamar, and other performances to create the movement in the film. Hobbs’ technique added to the dynamic, manic nature of the piece, beautifully emulating Carrington’s original surrealistic writing.

Although Hobbs’ film more closely resembled Carrington’s original story, Nat and Veronica still paid homage to Carrington’s paintings in their films. For example, they sought to recreate the chair in Carrington’s self portrait in the film itself. However, the Moonhills notably crafted their film with great attention to the underlying gender queer themes. In their rendition, the screen is saturated with shades of pink and blue in reaction to the gender performativity of the characters. At night however, the saturation dispels, creating “this other space that she [the debutante] gets to inhabit and find her true beast.” In their own way, the Moonhills honored Carrington’s surrealistic craft by creating absurd and new worlds themselves in their set and scene design. 

In all, both Hobbs’ and the Moonhills’ films offer distinct yet equally captivating reimaginings of Carrington’s surreal narrative, each one inviting viewers to explore the story’s absurdity, gender themes and transformative power through a unique artistic lens.

To explore more of Carrington’s artworks, visit the Rose to see “Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver,” on display until June 1.