ARTIST STATEMENT
The hybrid doll is a combination of two cultures coming together as one. Just like me, half Japanese and half Russian. Using the techniques of one culture to create the iconic shape of another culture I have tried to tackle the concept of ‘Hafus’. This Japanese word for half is considered an insult given to those non pure mixed-race individuals. Instead I decided to celebrate my uniqueness by combining the childhood memories of Matryoshka dolls and the formal detailed origami patterns to create a representation of who I am… a hybrid Australian. Not half but whole.
ARTWORK PROCESS
To create this artwork 1000 pieces of A3 paper were folded in a traditional Japanese style using the Origami technique. This tedious folding process was supported by volunteers, taking around three months to complete. Each piece of paper was slotted together and stacked on top of each other to create a Russian matryoshka doll shape of human proportions. The matryoshka face is printed onto tracing paper to show the rear-projected video. Due to the weight and the size of the doll, a video of the installation has been submitted as a resolved artwork.