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POP CULTURE
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10 Works of Subversive Barbie Art
By Alison Nastasi on Mar 9, 2014 2:00pm
The world’s most famous doll is celebrating her 55th birthday, today. Barbie debuted in 1959 and has
since amassed a following like no other. It’s estimated that there are over 100,000 Barbie collectors in
the world. “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything
she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices,” creator Ruth Handler
once said of the doll. Despite the best intentions, Mattel (and Barbie) has come under !re for promoting
an unhealthy body image to young girls. Her impossible !gure and perfect life have been a target for
many artists who have subverted the Barbie norms to explore its absurdity and question feminine ideals.
The sickly sweet palette of Peihang Huang’s Barbie oil paintings take on a morbid tone once you realize
that many of the dolls are battered and even dead (in the series Floral Funeral). Huang feels dolls are
“the perfect !gure to project human behaviors and philosophies.”
Conceptual photographer Dina Goldstein pulls back the curtain on the Barbie Dreamhouse. Her previous
project, Fallen Princesses, placed iconic pop culture princesses in modern-day situations that found them
facing poverty, cancer, and obesity. In the Dollhouse also toys with notions of femininity, revealing the
struggles and complexities of romantic partnership.
Two unashamed, nude Barbies frolicking on a beach created quite a controversy with Mattel. The Sports
Illustrated-style calendar is the work of then students Breno Cosa and Guillherme Souza who claim to be
part of the Matchbox trademark owned by Mattel — which isn’t true.
We recently told you about the work of photographer Sheila Pree Bright, who examines female racial
identity in her Plastic Bodies series. She blends human and doll features as a statement on ethnic and
cultural assimilation.
Mariel Clayton’s deranged photo series gives us a taste of Barbie’s homicidal lunatic side, making Ken
the victim. We never liked him much, anyway.
E.V. Day’s mummi!ed dolls shroud Barbie’s impossible measurements. From the artist:
The Mummi!ed Barbies acknowledge Barbie as an icon, as idealized and exaggerated as any
mythological depiction of Venus or Aphrodite. By concealing the attributes and accessories that
characterize her image, I aim to locate Barbie in a long history of glamorized feminine !gures.
Wrapping and silencing this vivacious action !gure into a phallic totem, we have a chance to see
her more objectively. Mummifying and shrouding Barbie literally ties her to ancient and ongoing
cultural practices of fetishizing the female form.
The surreal Barbie artworks of Ewelina Koszykowski place the doll in nightmarish situations — because
nothing says terrifying more than waking up and seeing a gaggle of nude Barbies and their sti" limbs
dancing in the dark.
The jaded, dark side of Barbie’s life is a favorite subject for photographers. Sarah Haney’s work places
the doll in real-life settings and precarious situations. “As an adult, thinking about that !xed expression
of pleasure made me start to think about what she might be hiding behind the façade of perfection —
after all, how great could life really be for a woman who clearly has an eating disorder, an addiction to
plastic surgery, and nothing between her ears?” Haney writes of the iconic doll.
Beatrice Morabito’s provocative photos of Barbie’s sex life !nd the doll bound and gagged, corseted, and
exploring relationships with other women. The erotic images are styled like high-fashioned photo shoots.
The artist sees her work as snapshots from a “secret diary.”
Outrageous performer Je"ree Star in a transgressive portrait of a murderous Barbie. Perfection.
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