Fairy Tales is an erotic folklore of short stories shot by Petra Collins starring Alexa Demie. The pair created the concept and text collaboratively. Alexa portrays nine characters that embody new stories they would have liked to see. As children, Petra and Alexa were both enamored with fairy tales, which provided an escape from their own painful realities. For both Collins and Demie, fairy-tales offered a place of refuge when they were younger. “We started talking about fairy-tales and folktales, and what it meant for us,” Collins said in a phone interview. “Because both of us came from very chaotic households…So any type of imaginary realm that I could get into I would, and that’s sort of where I lived.” The protagonists each deal with feelings of loss and exclusion: the grieving banshee whose life intertwines with two human sisters, or the fallen angel who gives up her lofty paradise to experience the realities of Earth, all detailed in hand-written narratives accompanying the images. Collins’ images often feature Demie’s characters practicing the erotic art form shibari – or Japanese rope bondage – symbolizing losing and regaining a sense of control. For Collins, "Fairy Tales" also speaks to the ways in which our online lives have changed us. "(We're) presenting these false...fairy-tale versions of ourselves," she said. Petra Collins/Rizzoli

The first monograph by photographer Petra Collins presents the world of a thoroughly modern creative. 2015 Babe I don’t think either of us has ever been comfortable in her immediate reality. Most of our childhoods were spent escaping in our minds,” Collins and Demie write in the prologue. As children, fairy tales played an important part for both of the women, allowing them escape from the dread of their own realities. The nine, nonlinear stories in “Fairy Tales” stem as much from their imaginations, as their traumas and the tales they told themselves. Fairy Tales” is a visual storybook of erotic short stories, starring Alexa Demie and shot by Petra Collins. The concept was written and brought to life by the two by creating characters and stories they wish were told to them. A modern, surreal update to classics such as those from Hans Christian Andersen, The Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault, and more, these nine stories stand uniquely and irrepressibly on their own. Sensual in the way of its approach, “ Fairy Tales” allows an older, more mature audience to enjoy fantasy without the “adolescent” pejorative attached to the genre.Collins calls this novel about a woman who rebounds from a relationship with a merman one of her “favorite books ever.” She explained: “It is a beautiful depiction of addiction, mental health, love and loss – all told through the lens of a woman in love with a merman.” We’re living in such an absurd time,” she said. “We’re all using these filters. We’re all editing our photos in these crazy ways. So it made the most sense in the way that we would tell what was happening in our time…(We’re) presenting these false…fairy-tale versions of ourselves.”

But “Fairy Tales” is also Collins’ interpretation of how our virtual lives have rapidly evolved during the pandemic, she explained, calling the digital space a “mythical reality” where many have become fixated on how they present themselves and facial-altering image filters have flourished.Alexa Demie and Petra Collins reimagine the mythical female beings of folk- and fairy-tales. Petra Collins/Rizzoli

Playing pretend is by no means a novel aspect of childhood—but Collins has taken that ethos and made a buzzy career out of it. In just seven years, the Toronto native has established her own uniquely hazy, female-gaze-centric aesthetic; become both muse and protégé to photographer Ryan McGinley; shot countless magazine covers; hosted exhibitions at MoMA and Art Basel, and directed short films and music videos for the likes of Cardi B and Olivia Rodrigo. (Her Good 4 U music video for the 18-year-old singer was most recently nominated for a Grammy—Rodrigo FaceTimed Collins during this very interview to congratulate her.)Once upon a time, there was a subversive fashion photographer who released her book this week…oh, wait! That’s not an actual fairy tale—but Petra Collins’ visual tome certainly fits the bill. Created in collaboration with Euphoria star and muse Alexa Demie, Collins has just dropped “Fairy Tales,” her latest book in the form of nine erotic short stories based on works by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and more. Both women collaborated on the text and the visuals, which star Demie as various elves, mermaids, fairies, and other make-believe creatures in surrealist sets that blend reality and fantasy."—DAILY FRONT ROW Fairy Tales is an erotic folklore of short stories shot by Petra Collins starring Alexa Demie. The pair created the concept and text collaboratively. Alexa portrays nine characters that embody new stories they would have liked to see. As children, Petra and Alexa were both enamored with fairy tales, which provided an escape from their own painful realities.