Dolls Dreaming
Dolls fascinate and scare me. Individually handcrafted or manufactured in multiples, dolls are assigned roles by the people who own them. Some people outgrow them as toys; others collect dolls as keepsakes, investments, or companions. On a whim, perhaps because dolls played virtually no role in my growing up, I began to photograph them to explore what would be revealed.
Two of the subjects of “Dolls Dreaming” came to me in different ways. I bought the doll with a leather body and porcelain face and hands struck by the irony of its construction in flesh and bone. When I unwrapped it at home, its wig fell off. The head broke apart; the eye mechanism fell out. Another doll, the childhood toy of a friend, was given to me as a possible subject.
As I made portraits of these dolls in series, frame-by-frame, a hidden narrative emerged then changed like dreams and memories.
