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She was broken. The
other one... the one who hurt her... neither knew the extent of the
damage... nor did he care. He only wanted to touch, to control, and to
own. When her head hit the floor, he only stood and waited for her
to rise so he could do it again. Eventually he walked away and she
regained her posture although she would never be the same again. At
first, there was barely a mark and people weren't really sure there
was any damage at all. But it was there. One defining crack ran
through her head and slowly, day by day, branched into a multitude of
tiny, nearly invisible, fractures. Her jaw was broken, never
healed right, and changed her voice. When she speaks, she hears
someone new.
In spite of her
despair... or possibly because of it... she survived. She captured
the heart of the creator who saw beauty in brokenness and hope in
tears. She was saved from the one who shoved her down and tried to
steal her soul. She would never see him again or suffer at his hands.
He would never hurt her again!
Someone bought this
38" doll from the store where I work and returned it because of a crack
in the face. I immediately saw the artistic possibilities. I spoke
with my boss and asked if I could have it if unable to be returned to
the supplier. He said maybe. After several days of me wishing for
it, I was told I could have it for $1. I was so happy! I had so many
ideas in my head of what the photographs and scans were going to look
like. I was not disappointed.
As soon as I got her
home, I very slowly and carefully removed the clothing, the body, and
then the wig. I chuckled to myself for about an hour when I saw what
had been used for the 'boobies'... two dense little pompom balls.
Cracked me up!
The doll was what is
called an 'Umbrella Doll.' the framework allows her to stand free and
also fold up to save space.
Here are a few of
the cool photos I took. I am especially excited with how the first one turned
out. (It is NOT Photo shopped.) I made several scanned images which
will be in my next 2 posts, Broken Too: The Art and Broken Third: The Hope I also plan to use some
of the images for paintings and also create mixed media projects with
the actual pieces.
Kathryn, I've only just now been able to look at this whole post. Awesome photos, interesting to see what you do next. But I really had to comment on how beautiful the face of the doll looks once you can really see it, without all that fake hair. You may be onto something with these dolls - seeing what the rest of us overlook!
ReplyDeleteThank you Donna! I 'discovered' her as I removed all the 'stuff.' All the dolls I get are immediately stripped. I hate the clothing... distracts from the beauty and personality each one has.
ReplyDeleteI love that you found beauty in something others may see as ruined.
ReplyDeleteThank you Heather! We artists call it "Beautiful Decay" there is even an art blog with the name and has very cool stuff. I just now posted the follow-up for this post.
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