I happened upon these photos on Etsy by Caroline Moore (aka “sixhours”) last week when I was browsing for child-appropriate pieces I could buy as baby gifts. Obviously, these don’t fall into that category. However, they caught my eye because they remind me of a short story by A.M. Homes in The Safety of Objects. In the story, if I remember correctly, a teenage boy dismembers his sister’s Barbies and does bizarre (sexual) things with them.
I read it over 10 years ago, after reading The End of Alice for a book club and becoming obsessed. (I loved it…. especially because the pearl-wearing girls who comprised the club were appalled by it. It’s narrated by a pedophile in jail, and also involves a young girl experimenting with the boy she babysits.) If you are not familiar with her work, she is an excellent writer, never dull, and often compellingly offensive.
I wonder if the photographer is familiar with the story?
