Image maker of the self
Dolls make a perfect subject for inquiries into symbols. They are products of the contemporary commercial image making industry, the same industry that produced Ronald Regan, Madonna, Nintendo and the Vietnam Conflict. To most people an image-making doll can be a consumer crafting reality, a symbol of buying power, profit, revenue streams and a secular idol known in the corporate world simply as�a "Cash cow".
But dolls are more then just that�they are about a protective helper, a map of the world, a guide, a model, a toy and a tool. These are fictions, yet they are as real as the air we breathe. Dolls are nearly ubiquitous, crossing international and religious borders; available to children, so is a part of their education, growth into expectations, materialism, body, shape, style, fashion, values and traditions of a consumeristic society, demonstrating social power, fears, humanity, femininity, or masculinity, and self-definition. By believing in this image, one can re-make them, or convince themselves that they are closer to success, safety or love.
In play, a sense of story telling is rekindled, a sense that by the flickering of candles, campfires, flashlights and incandescent light stories of history, success, battles, survival, death and love are told. Inscribed with the knowledge and the survival skills of past generations, silently teaching a way of living and storing accumulated beliefs for future generations. This is the thread that binds generations and furthers the knowledge of cultures. A different way of seeing, thinking and of believing can create a whole new world, traditions or culture. Societies live and die by these beliefs.
What stories does your doll tell for you?
(A protector, warrior, lover, teacher or just�a friend?)
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