Dollhouse

Wood, cardboard, canvas, oil paint, 10" x 18", completed November 2023

Dollhouse pairs motifs of girlhood and childhood play with darker aesthetic and symbolic elements to highlight how homes can be a site of tension between safety and discomfort, particularly for girls and women. The domestic sphere offers a place of refuge from the outside world in many ways–it is often where we return at the end of the day to rest, eat, and spend time with loved ones. However, the home is also the primary location where patriarchal-gendered socialization is carried out and where women are most likely to be affected by gendered violence. Dollhouse brings this dissonance to viewers' attention by situating somewhat unsettling characters into the context of feminine childhood toys–such as the black goat, which represents Baphomet or Satan within occult practices, the humanoid figure, which is inspired by the aesthetic language of taxidermy busts, and the lamb, which is typically a sacrificial animal, representing both innocence and suffering.

Depicted above: Dollhouse was installed for show on a handmade shelf stained to match the piece.