Tag: Cica Ghost

Cica Ghost opened her July 2025 installation at the start of the month. Entitled Among the Hills, it is another setting using a fairy tale related quote, in this case one from Hans Christian Andersen:

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.

It’s a quote carrying a number of potential messages. Best known for his fairy tales, Andersen was a prolific author of novels, poems, plays and travelogues who saw life as something to be experienced, offering the most unique of opportunities and experiences, making it as wonderful as anything that might be derived from the imagination by means of a fairy tale. At the same time, the quote reflects Andersen’s belief that fairies weren’t supernatural, but part of daily life, and we’re simply not aware of them – unless we open our eyes and minds.

Then there is the application of the quote to Cica’s builds. It perfectly sums-up her ability to offer environments that offer fun, a sense of wonder and an opportunity for escape. And with its giant turtles, dragons, frogs looking like they might be waiting for a kiss to return them to them princehood and white rabbits, together with teddy bears and walking trees, Among the Hills offers a similar reflection of the wonders of fairy tales and the magic they can weave in the imagination in a world only slightly removed from our own.

Yes, the setting perhaps lacks some of the usual quirks to be found in Cica’s builds: fun little sit-points dances, etc., but there is good reason for this. As aSL22B exhibitor, Cica likely had to balance producing this installation along with preparing for SL22B. Even so, Among the Hills is a fun visit for summer.

SLurl Details

• Among the Hills (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

For June 2025, Cica Ghost brings us Unicorns and Candies; a realm offering a sense of childhood dreams, creatures of wonder and bright, happy colours. It perfectly encapsulates everything found within the accompanying quote from Roald Dahl:

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

This is a quote which challenges us to maintain a sense of wonder and to approach life with a childlike curiosity, while expressing the idea that magic is not just about casting spells or supernatural occurrences, but about a sense of wonder, imagination, and the belief that extraordinary things can happen; that magic can come to all of us in many forms – a beautiful moment, a surprising discovery, or the realization of a dream. All we need is to be open to it;  if we allow adult cynicism take over or become too rigid in our thinking, we can so easily miss out on the joy and wonder that life has to offer, in whatever form it might take.

All of the above is perfectly encapsulated in Cica’s build. It is an expression of childhood imaginings and dreams; a place where unicorns can be found, and dinosaurs and snails  converse together and stars fallen from the skies walk hand-in-hand or sit in contentment, where houses are sewn and trees look like strange candy-topped lollypops. It’s a place made for smiling and fun, where you can climb and walk, dance or sit, and which can quite unexpectedly put a bounce in your stride!

Just as Dahl’s words inspire us to keep our imagination alive and to retain that child-like curiosity and wonder, so Cica’s installations constantly offer us the chance to do so. They allow us to escape the demands of the everyday and instead, to explore the extraordinary, have fun, to delight in what we see and experience – and to find the magic of a smile or a laugh. To never lose sight of the doorway to the extraordinary our imaginations offer.

So go see Unicorns and Candies. Dance, sit, find the the magic, the unexpected and enjoy.

SLurl Details

Unicorns and Candies (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

Cica Ghost’s latest turn of whimsy opened in Second Life towards the end of April, bringing with it another opportunity to leave the weight of the world behind and just have a little fun and let a smile or six crease your lips.

Rocks and Drums is another charming setting featuring giants, strange houses, beautiful flowers, vehicles, dancing, and a sense of fun. It comes with a line from  American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer, Patricia Lee “Patti” Smith, If you don’t have what you need, just rock with what you’ve got!

Given the core aspect of this installation is rock, it’s an apt quote. This is a place of rocky hills, rocky cairns, stone of primitively-hewn rock, and most notably rock giants and strange houses hewn from rock. Some are on the ground, other balance precariously on the top of stacks of flat rocks or rocky plinths. Like the stone giants, the houses are topped by tufted grass-like hair.

Across the land, grass and flowers grow tall, and people can wander freely. The stone giants are not the only creatures here, huge friendly treemen can also be found, and can rocks with fair-sized teeth!

While the houses on the ground are easy enough to access, those atop rock piles and plinths present something of a problem.  However, the answer comes in the form of flat rock tablets. Some have balloons attached, others are propellor-driven. Simply step up onto one as it reaches the ground and then allow it to carry you elevator-like up to one of the houses.

Those who fancy a shot of making like Fred and Barney can jump on one of three rock car rezzers and go for a drive around the setting. And of course there are Cica’s familiar dance stations and places to sit. So, go on over and let Cica’s creations raise a smile. Her shop means you can even bring some of them home with you if you like!

SLurl Details

• Rocks and Drums by Cica Ghost (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

Having written the title to this piece, I realised that it could just as easily be “Cica’s Playground IS Second Life”, because for well over a decade now, Cica Ghost has been presenting 3D art installations within Second Life – and has been doing so monthly for the last few years.

As a result she has, and continues to, present a wide range of environments and settings, many of them more-or-less entirely whimsical, some of them wonderfully layered, offering views of folk tales or myths or ideas with a depth of perception and evocation which have never failed to inspire. Throughout much of her work there is a simple statement of joy in life, and it is this, as much as everything else she carefully wraps in her installations which has made me a long-time fan of her work, and why I have always tried to cover her installations in these pages, collecting them under my Cica Ghost tag.

One of the first of Cica’s builds I both saw and wrote about was Ghostville, a 3D village inhabited by Cica’s (already by then) famous animated stick figures (see: A short stay in Ghostville). It was a wonderful experience, and led to further encounters with her little people in installations such as The Visitors, which made marvellous use of the pre-existing (but long since sadly departed from Second Life) art venue of La Città Perduta, aka The Lost City (see Visiting the Visitors).

I mention all of this because within Playground, which opened on March 25th, 2025, there is something of a nod towards those wonderfully animated stick figures, together with a range of other 2D elements offering memories of some of Cica’s past creatures and creations. They sit within a village-like environment which might also be regarded as an avant-garde playground (given everything appears to be made of carboard, adding to the playtime like feel) in which new 3D creatures bot large and small and quite wondrous in their respective forms might be found. I loved them all but the almost Yaphit-like pair brought a particular smile to my face – but that’s purely the sci-fi nerd in me!

Such is the jollity here that even stars appear to have sprung from the ground along with flowers and clover, bopping to an unheard melody (there is an audio stream, but I preferred to keep it turned off) as much as some of the painted creatures and the various Cicas awaiting discovery.

The potential call-outs to many of Cica’s past design might be pointed to by fans of Cica’s work; however, whether they are intentional or not, I’ve no idea. This being the case I’ll leave it to people to decide for themselves, because I don’t want to give the impression this is a place that cannot be enjoyed in its own right or is in any way some form of intentional retrospective – it is not; it is simply that there are a lot of perfect little bells that might chime for some in visiting, but which also do not diminish Playground in any way if they pass unheard.

As is common with Cica’s build, visitors can join in with the fun via dancing, while the particularly energetic can jump up onto one of the local flying saucers and help keep them spinning (and flying?). These are not the only way to get airborne – hidden in plain sight is the means to bring out your inner Supergirl / Superman – but you can find that on your own 😀 . For those seeking a little rest afterwards (or perhaps a mug of 2D coffee!) there are various places to set down and recover.

In all – wonderful!

SLurl Details

• Playground by Cica Ghost (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

Cica Ghost’s installation tend to carry with them elements of fairy tale; sometimes these elements are obvious in terms of the narrative on offer, in others the fairy tale aspect is further offered by the installations title, whilst the installation itself includes touches and turns which might cause the mind to wander further than any idea of “traditional” fairy tales. But howsoever the theme might be presented, the installation itself is always engaging.

For February 2024, Cica presents Dark Fairytale, which – for me, sits within those installations Cica offers which perhaps encourage the mind to wander further than the “traditional” idea of fairy tales. Flowing into it – in very subtle ways – are a touch of Guillermo del Toro and a tickle of cosmology. As with all of Cica’s installation, use of the Share Environment is a must.

Dark Fairytale presents a dark, somewhat parched landscape of lowlands watched over by peaks and hills around their edges, with two hills detached from the rest as if scouting inland. Caught under a cloud-rippled sky, this is a place with an otherworldly feel to it – a feeling that’s increased by the large face of planet (or moon?) hanging low above the westward horizon, its surface marked by the veins of a vast mountain complex spreading outward from its southern extreme.

The presence of this world / moon which does much to cast this place as much into the realm of far-away worlds in distant space as much as it does conjure thoughts of fairy tale lands. Yet at the same time, the eye of this planet might cause some to think of our own solar system; for those familiar with Mars, one of the splayed tendrils of light coloured mountains stretching across the world offers a faint suggestion of a mirrored Vallis Marineris and Noctis Labyrinthus so familiar to Mars. The effect is entirely coincidental rather than intended, but for those who see it, it gives a further twist to any backstory the imagination might choose to write for the installation.

This is a world inhabited by various kinds of dragon (one tucked away off-shore), all of whom appear to peacefully co-exist with the local humanoids, who in turn appear to live in exotic little homes.  As with all of Cica’s characters, the creatures here carry with them a sense of innocence rather than menace, with the humanoids having some technical know-how, going by the snail car in the midst of the landscape. As one would expect, there are multiple places to sit or dance scattered through the landscape, whilst the creatures offer plenty of opportunities for photography.

Given the friendliness of the locals, the “Dark” of the installation’s title would appear to relate less to any idea of the kind of tales involving a twist of fear and / or horror, and more to the fact that this world is either dimly lit or seen at night. That said, the fantastical nature of the creatures and beings here does pump the cosmological element within Dark Fairytale, as noted. In this, the quote Cica has chosen for the installation also has a role to play, coming as it does from a longer statement by the late English cosmologist and theoretical physicist, John David Barrow.

All told, another marvellous setting from Cica, one able to suggest all sorts of stories to the willing imagination. And the hint of Del Torro? Take a peek inside the rotor-topped house, and you might spot it!

Slurl Details

• Dark Fairytale (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

Cica Ghost is back with a wintertime setting to see out 2024 with Snowflakes, and in doing so, offers us a little insight into the fact that even snow monsters appreciate a little warmth on cold winter nights when the stars shine brightly.

In a darkened world where hills rise like comical bumps a cartoon character might suffer after taking a bop to the head, birch tress point boughs bereft of leaves towards the nigh sky, as if trying to to pull down the blanket of stars to wrap around themselves and stave off the cold. All around, snowflakes drift towards the ground to join their siblings already there.

Night-time can be one of the most magical times to witness gently falling snow when the wind is calm and the air is fresh; there can be a wonderful sense of mystery, particularly when walking through wooded land  – and believe me, as one who has partaken of late evening walks through the park adjoining my home, walking under naked tress and over the bridges panning the local stream, I speak from experience!

But here, among these trees, are other wonders to be found. This is because, with the Sun long set and darkness all around, the local snow monsters have come out. Although in fairness, “monster” here is more due to a matter of their scale rather than any wicked intent on their part. Indeed, and as noted all they are seeking a little of the forementioned warmth – both the kind born of a warm fire and the kind from friendly companionship – or having a little fun building a snowman.

These chaps clearly mean no harm (although beware the falling snowballs near some of them!); one even looks a little looks a little unhappy and lonely on the cold night, possibly because there’s a nice little house close by (one of a number sharing the landscape) which could well be a lot warmer inside than it is outside – but he’s a little too big to get through the front door!

For those who like a little fun, there are Cica’s dances to be found and a pair of “snow rollers” to ride around on. The setting is accompanied from a quote from Lorelei Gilmore from the 8th episode of the first season of The Gilmore Girls, A show I’d never heard of until reading the quote – and subsequently finding the episode – love and War and Snow – is one of the most highly regarded of the show’s entire run. However, it expresses the mood of Cica’s Snowflakes perfectly:

Everything’s magical when it snows

SLurl Details

• Cica’s Snowflakes (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)