Exhibition

 

My final major exhibition.

Dolls in order from left to right: Misery Guts, The Two-Faced Lady, Not-so-strong Strong Man, and The Cyclops.
Check my previous post ''Play Time'' for close ups!

PLAY TIME

For my final major project, i worked around the theme of Circus and Freak Show. I was interested in the old fashioned ways of the circus. The atmosphere and build up of exciting through the whole palaver of setting up and drawing in the crowd was a great task, and one that would not have made the circus what it was. 
I feel that it is completely different to a modern day circus, the build up isn't as great, and in our society, its difficult to please. We know and understand too much, what would have been a amazing wonder to see animals perform, or people jump from heights without safety isn't as spectacular nowadays, because we've seen it all before. 
Through my design process, i used vintage photographs of circus performers and old fashioned set ups as my inspiration. The research of this brought up issues about manipulation and how the people with genetic deformities and disabilities where taken advantage of. I felt this was an issue that should be brought up and so weaved it into my project. 
Working with vintage photographs of such circus performers, and 'freak show' entertainers, i created my designs to be in the form of dolls. 

                                                 

As a set of 4, these dolls have been created as symbols of human pain, and emotion. The painted text on the body represents the scars of mental manipulation and how words can hurt and show themselves on the outside. By being dolls, my message represents the 'toying' and playing of peoples emotions, like every day toys are handled and manipulated into different situations.  My dolls were made to be touched and played with as part of the exhibition, and by doing this, the audience unknowingly has control over the irony of 'manipulating' something. I feel this is a very common thing that goes on everyday, in everyones lives, and the consequences of other peoples way of control and actions can be something that can completely change whole aspects of another persons character. 
I wanted a very realistic form for my dolls, so that the viewer would be able to understand on a level they are closer to. To do this, i used latex. The texture and appearance of latex can be very skin like at the right consistency. I took casts of a toy dolls body parts, stuffed them, and stitched them together. I then hand painted the facial characteristics and details. I found the latex to be the perfect material for this because it picked up the detail of the anatomically correct doll and gives so much life to my structure. 

The female dolls also have hair made from felt wool fibers, which i feel also gives them a more life like quality.