Yves Klein’s Blue Venus and the Venus de Milo led me to consider the male gaze and associated beauty standards. Having 3D printed iPhones for the Barbies, I staged the work on a pile of children’s books with a nursery chair, inviting the viewer to sit to contemplate the pressures on children.
There is a delight within my practice in making with toys, childhood and play was curtailed by an early puberty. The process of selecting each Barbie, conditioning her hair, removing her makeup, dressing and accessorising her was secretively thrilling. Whilst numbering the position of each doll, bagging her and writing the number on a diagram, I pondered lost childhood.
There were unexpected delights in tape, spray paint and plastic sheeting. The happenstance of the practice is sometimes the most pleasurable.