Audiences can view the 14-minute animation within the exhibition space, and then make their way through a lush display of objects and artworks that explore the incredible workings behind this production.

The works link classic text to canvas, sculpture to screen. Also on display is a selection of stunning and never-before-seen handmade props, material from the animation archival material, and a 1913 edition of Wilde’s anthology.

The exhibition installation is designed to create an immersive and intricate Barton-inspired world: colourful, bold, enchanting, brooding, and revealing.

“Each exhibition piece shows how this classic story was interpreted at first through Barton’s sophisticated artistic lens, then enlivened by Fletcher’s brilliant filmic mind and Method Studio’s deft animating hand, in conjunction with a group of creatives working across the full spectrum of moving image arts,” said ACMI Curator Jess Bram.

Through an artistic layering of original works, alongside the breathtakingly beautiful hand-crafted paper props, snapshots of the stop-motion and digital animation process and behind-the-scenes interviews with the creative team, Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose is magically brought to life for contemporary audiences.

On display at the Cairns Art Gallery 16 Feb–22 April. Free entry.