Presented in this installation are the yearnings of five dolls. The forgotten objects assemble in a ritual-like formation, surrounding a vortex of words and symbols.

Scrawled in Dorset, an ancient dialect with a childlike capacity for purity and play, their longing reveals a need to transcend previous limitations: identity, sexuality, gender. On the binary of innocence and tragedy, this mandala remembers darker feminine histories. Language is perceived to be dangerous, warranting the use of Sigils to conceal and protect. As they hum, coo and taunt, their desires coalesce and expand.   The voices emerge from the darkness revealing a ferociousness and an urge to do something inadvisable.

 

As part of a ritualised practice, and process informed by vital materialism, I go hunting for unloved objects that want me. Sometimes they whimper and sometimes they scream, but they all want something: they all have desires.

 

My intervention is maternal: I bring these objects home and I listen to what they want, then I step away, granting their autonomy. I am obedient to their whims.

 

A seminal doll in this installation first suggested its longing and I obeyed: removing its head to satisfy its desire for further existence. It beckoned for more dolls and I responded to their insatiable hunger through manipulation, violence and translation.

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