Carmen Graraghon's political video piece, focusing on the election 2017.
"When we talk about dolls in the western world we are often referring to them as a toy, but in other parts of the world they are viewed with much more significance, they are important sacred objects and there is a crossing over and blending between a toy and a ritual object.
My work rethinks our ideas of dolls and reconsiders the roles they play and the properties assigned to them which can illuminate a culture’s beliefs and value. Dolls can stretch our definition between play and ritual and a doll can cause the inanimate to become animate and stimulate the imaginary and spiritual world.
The doll can represent our time and culture, they can embody and convey social beliefs and values. One of the functions of a doll is play and play is an important form of human behavior. Play allows us to cope with past and future situations. It allows us to step out of the ordinary into an extra-ordinary existence, where the play world can be superior to reality.
My doll-making is connected to my place in the world and the relationships/events round me; I made Donald Trump as a doll when he became elected in the US, as I wanted to do something/ say something. Inside Donald is a heart, giving Donald a heart gives me hope and hope is important to me. Here a doll can be a vessel into which are poured fears, hope, sorrow and make-believe.
When the General Election 2017 was called I felt the compulsion to make a Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May doll, to sit on the threshold between the real world and the the extra-ordinary world by adding strings to my dolls and allowing them to dance I was able to express how I felt about recent political events, here my practice allows the creation of an extra-ordinary world, where imagination is the ultimate liberation and play and the real world can seep into each other. Ultimately my work explores the ideas that by creating changes in play it can be possible to create changes which become tangible in the real world."