Rebel dolls

: 2024-2025

I wooden box including dolls and 1 box of index cards: 25x20x10cm

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Wellcome Collection

"The dolls are each a small act of rebellion against abuse, and its effects on my mental health, via art. I chose peg dolls as they are small enough to handpaint in 1 to 2 hours- so they were an act of artistic rebellion without being too daunting to complete when I was struggling. Together they create an army against abuse. Each doll has a corresponding index card, describing the state of my mental health as I made the doll. The project documents a long period of depression I have been going through this year, as well as the effects of rising hatred against disabled and trans people like me, on my mental health.”—S.L.P.

"the themes of the index cards overall include: trying to work whilst disabled, Bipolar depression, the long lasting effects of Childhood Sexual Assault, the effect of the current political climate on the health of people who already have numerous mental health disorders, developing sores due to being scared of changing clothes due to C-PTSD, attachment to pets in C-PTSD when you can't handle human touch, learning about gender identity and how it relates to your disability at a time when there is an attack on trans rights, adapting to new social care input from social services, the sudden shift in the creative industrites away from making work about disability and queerness (the projects that were getting made / comissioned last year have no market this year) which reflects the current government's policies, and isolation caused by carer's poor health, being unable to access medical care due to past abuse by medical staff. They also look at dissociation and how putting yourself into an object- like a doll- can help you to survive C-PTSD flashbacks; and how art, including making dolls, can be an act of rebellion against abusers."--S.L.P.