The Doll (Maquette for The Doll's Games) 1938

Hans Bellmer created this photograph of a doll, a maquette for his Doll's Games. The monochrome image is haunting, a kind of anti-Barbie, put together in segments. Bellmer's photographs bring out the visceral quality of the doll - its texture, the feel of its surface - even in two dimensions. The forms of the doll are strangely tactile, like a deflated balloon. The rope binding the lower leg has an almost umbilical quality to it. I am reminded that process is more than just a method, it's also a kind of thinking-through-making. It is conceptual, material, and emotional. I'm reminded of Louise Bourgeois, another artist who was interested in the body, sexuality, and trauma. Like Bourgeois, Bellmer wasn’t after beauty. Instead, these artists embraced ambiguity, leaving space for us to bring our own interpretations and experiences to the work.