One of the first objects I thought of when I started this project was this faceless doll. I found it one day on top of a garbage container, as if whoever was getting rid of it couldn't bear to actually toss it in with the trash. I took it to my studio where it sat near me for a couple of months. In one of my cleaning moments I took it to school and attempted to leave it in the props room where I was teaching a drawing class. It lived in that dark closet for some time, among the bottles and white geometric shapes and cast off shoes, the tea pots, the cow skull, and other still life objects. I actually forgot it was there. Nine months later I was teaching another class at the same school and I rediscovered it. I had to take it back.
Dolls are so freighted with associations. This one is no different. Only, I don't know who made it. I don't know who it originally belonged to. And I don't know why it doesn't have a face. And yet I still relate to it so strongly.
fascinating. i can see why you'd want to keep it... very mysterious and yet somehow you(we) can relate to it... maybe because it seems lost?
ReplyDelete