hayley barker
work 2003-2005

from the CAPSIZED series

At the heart of the 2005 series of drawings entitled "Capsized," is the search for a visual representation of the sensation of being trapped, powerless, held below an impenetrable surface, suffocating, or simply being thrown off balance.

All are observational drawings of my dolls, which date from the 1950’s and 60’s. These dolls symbolize a peculiar flavor of loss of security: the body of the doll is a body that cannot control its own actions; a body that must inhabit the space it helplessly finds itself in. The heightened emotionality of a desperate moment is the main focus of these pieces. My goal is that individually, and as a series, each piece transcends the topical and immediate and moves into a place that reflects a kind of historic female melancholy, or a physical knowing of what true loss is.

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