Not even a pandemic and consequent remote learning can dampen the spirits of Miss Allan’s Year 11 Literature class!

This semester in their unit of Intertextuality students are studying Gothic literature. In celebration of Book Week, the class was right on board with Miss Allan’s request to come dressed to impress.

Students were asked to dress up, do their hair or do their makeup as either a character, concept or technique in Gothic literature. They then had to select a famous artwork or photograph they thought enhanced that Gothic feature OR was an artwork or photograph that they felt their Gothic feature subverted or altered the meaning of.

There were distraught Damsels, the Grim Reaper, a couple of morally conflicted vampires and a few ever-mysterious femme fatales. A plethora of classic artworks served as the dramatic scene-setting backgrounds for these Gothic elements. Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Van Gough’s Starry Night and Sunflowers, John Everett Millai’s Ophelia and some classically gothic shadowed woods and architecture could all be spotted during the lesson. In discussion, students had to justify their choice in costume and background, showing their understanding of the core concepts of the unit. 

It was great to see students rise to the occasion, breaking up their day with a bit of fun!

Kathryn Allan
Leader of Wellbeing (Maathai House)