The Decay of Barbie Version 1
By Shayna Dajches
Through taking an existing Barbie styling head toy, I aimed to manipulate Barbie's features and repaint her face to express the way that I feel the beauty and toy industry are not only fueling over-consumption in children but are also destroying our planet. This is only my first iteration of this "sculpture", and I aim to make a more detailed and complete version in the near future.
While I think I was able to implement my main idea, this sculpture definitely has its issues. Making my own custom doll eyes was more complex than I expected, so the current rendition is a little "rough"- in the future I will most likely use resin to remake the eyes and add smaller details. I also struggled to use the soft pastels to add shading to her features and make her more gaunt/decayed looking- I think the pastels I used were too cheap and the brushes were not the right kind. The dress painted on her bust also became an issue, as I wanted to completely remove it to reduce distraction but the acetone was not putting a dent in the plastic glitter. I don't mind the effect of it being left behind, but I didn't think to spray her bust with my mattifying primer, so you can see a weird shiny-ness on the plastic where the acetone touched. I learned a ton from this project and I'm really excited to expand on it in the future and create my perfect final version.
