Babydoll

2021

36 x 36 x 36 inches

chicken wire, papier-mâché, plaster gauze, plaster, nylon strap, organza

As small girls we were dressed up and treated like little dolls. As we grow into young women and adults, this objectification persists, becoming more easily recognized as a form of sexual harassment, being reduced to one’s own body and and manner of dress. The joy that comes with the action of making one’s dress flip up with a twirl is freeing, yet so often degraded by the alternate objectifying demand to give one a 360° look at one’s body and ensemble. Babydoll is a performative sculpture which sets out to subvert the male gaze by claiming the position of power in an otherwise objectifying situation. I situate myself in a heavy, rigid object to sarcastically gratify the viewer. This gratification consequently creates tension between myself and said viewer by implicating them in my own suffering.