Photos courtesy of Birmingham Museum of Art
Art exhibition questions the doll’s role in society
Juwayiah Wright
Contributing Reporter
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Barbie has been a staple of beauty for girls around the world sine 1959, and until very recently was looked at as the ideal standard.
However, the Barbie: Dreaming of a Female Futureexhibit on view now at the Birmingham Museum of Art challenges and explores past-held standards.
Featured in the Arrington gallery, the various artwork allows for visitors to be open with their own relationship with beauty and expectations.
The exhibit features work by female artists and designers, as well as women-owned businesses, and displays a cumulative outlook from this diverse crowd. Each holds their own view of Barbie and what she represented, and the outcome is a life-size dream house, featuring a foyer, sitting room, dressing room, living room, office, and dining room.
“[The goal was] to look at what Barbie did to you and what Barbie did for you, and recognizing her legacy as both being very traditionally positive in ways that people can aspire, and also the negatives,” said Hallie Ringle, Hugh Kaul Curator for Contemporary Art.
The space is feminine in of itself, but can be interpreted and thought about in any way by those who visit. Childhood experiences with dolls and action figures—two terms used for the same sort of toy, separated by gender, very easily shape views of the real world as people grow.
Barbie herself was the icon of traditional American values, as she had heteronormative principles, a high-class life-style, and an impossible body.
The 740-square foot space is completely immersive, and the collaborative effort with design teamBOCA Architectural and Interior Design resulted in a modernized version of the typically retro or throwback style Barbie tends to encompass for nostalgia’s sake.
The color-scheme is fiercely pink and eye-catching, but also incorporates cinematic work, bright colors, soft undertones and dazzling photography to encapsulate the modern aesthetic that can be acknowledged by anyone, regardless of gender.
“There are a lot of boys and men that have had a relationship with Barbie in different ways, whether they played with Barbie and loved her and learned something about their own life, or they may not have had a great relationship with her because she was the embodiment of stereotypes,” Ringle said. “Ideally, it is for men to recognize that themselves and to complicate our understandings of gender.”
The exhibit took more than a year to complete from initial conception and has evolved into a dissection of Barbie as she pertains to race, gender, body image and corporate roles.
Participating artists, designers and businesses include:Aelfie, Addie Chapin, Calico Wallpaper, David Levinthal, Eskayel, Estudio Persona, Flat Vernacular, Greta de Parry, Grace Hartigan, Lauren Kelley, Kim Markel, Natalie Baxter, Quiet Town, Range Projects, Ruby Star Society, Sazerac Stitches, Sheila Pree Bright, Stray Dog Designs, Studio BOCA and Tamar Mogendorff.
