Dollface 2019

​Dollface was born out of the COVID-19 confinement. The long months gave AnnMarie the time to let out her inner child. It started on the day she made a clothespin fairy doll out of boredom. She took photos of her and that gave AnnMarie the idea to create an actual rag doll. She spent hours and days making and altering Dollface with old clothes/scraps of fabric she had lying around but then she evolved over 2 years and with her costumes are imperfectly made Dollface became perfectly imperfect.

She is faceless because AnnMarie wanted to eliminate facial expressions and for AnnMarie to pose her in a way that left her “thoughts and feelings” to the viewer’s interpretation. In addition, as a self-portrait photographer, AnnMarie considered her own face expressive enough to exploit. However, while working with her and posing her in different ways, AnnMarie began to see emotion; a sense of life within her.

During the time of creating this series, AnnMarie remembered her time spent in therapy and of psychology in general. “Doll therapy” is used for trauma, depression, abuse and even in patients with dementia. While AnnMarie did not intend to create Dollface for any of those reasons, subconsciously the thought of creating a doll personae of her was appealing and as is with all of AnnMarie’s photographic work – was inherently therapeutic; Dollface became another means of self-expression.

In addition, Dollface did become a therapy doll for AnnMarie. She often hugged her hard, stroke her hair and talked to her when she was afraid, sad, frustrated and even when she was happy. In fact, her name, Dollface, was what AnnMarie’s maternal grandmother called AnnMarie; a name born from the love and comfort she gave AnnMarie. This series marks that important moment in time both on a historical level and on a personal one.