Living Dolls
Right bellow the fifth layer of Youtube, alongside with "Hoarders - buried alive" and the whole "My Strange Obsession" series, you can find some videos presenting the so called "Living Dolls".
Living Dolls are men, straight on its majority, that live some kind of a second life as a doll. They dress up their latex costumes, put on a wig and, for the disapointment of some, keep on doind their daily chores - just like that.
One could expect something more exciting, but the most interesting part about it lies on the fact that these people are only looking for normality. Thus, this was the inspiration for a series of illustrations depicting this secret life.
The drawings play with the fact that all these living dolls are aware of the observer and, although they cannot be identified, they establish some kind of connection while watching us back, almost telling us that we all have skeletons - or latex clothes - the closet .
The exhibition was about empathy. It is not about judging or dehumanizing anyone.
It is very convenient that all drawings have a plastic effect and not only because of the obvious correlation with the latex itself, but also as a reminder of the superficiality of what we see.
An unsuspecting observer might take a lot of conclusions based purely on what his own life experience tells him of what it is. However, it takes a lot of empathy to understand - or try to - what happens underneath this latex layer.
The exhibition took place at a local cafe and was open to visitation from January 4th till February 4th 2020.
It also made the front cover of the "Fun and Art" section of Brasilia's main newspaper, Correio Braziliense. The newspaper article can be accessed, in portuguese, on this link: https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/diversao-e-arte/2020/01/08/interna_diversao_arte,819014/em-cartaz-exposicao-apresenta-o-conceito-de-living-dolls.shtml
