New Life Doll Project
Holly Graham
Holly Graham, originally from Virginia, grew up drawing and creating. She attended college at Longwood University where she received her BFA. In Virginia she managed a prestigious portrait studio. After marrying her husband, Daniel Graham, and moving to Georgia she worked as an executive assistant for an art collective and directed and curated an art gallery there. The year 2006 brought Holly and her husband to Georgetown Kentucky. She was employed by Georgetown News Graphic for a time after which she became a stay at home mother to two children. Holly began homeschooling in 2013 which she continues today. 2017 signaled the advent of Holly making her work public again. Holly and her husband wrote three children's books which Holly illustrated. Soon following, Holly started rebuilding her current professional practice by appearing in artist markets in Lexington, Berea, and Louisville and exhibiting her work in art shows in Kentucky and Virginia. Her illustrative work will be featured in an exhibition in February 2020 at the Cochenour Gallery in Georgetown, KY.
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The New Life Doll Project was born in November 2018, when I was given a second-hand bag of old barbies for my children to play with. They needed a lot of love to redeem them to playable condition and I did not want their influence as they were (excessive makeup and revealing clothes). After “fixing” a few of them, and being pleased with the drastic change, the idea of the project launched.
My first goal with the New Life Doll Project is to find used, “well-loved”, discarded barbies second-hand and breathe new life into them to promote natural beauty and modesty. This change is intended not only for a younger generation but for the current one as well. I rework their face, recondition, cut, and sometimes resew their hair, and clothe them in more appropriate outfits. The clothes I choose are also second-hand, a lot of them dating back to the 60s. I’d love for the viewers to know that they do not have to dress provocatively or overly cover their natural faces to be seen or valued. Who they are, their minds, their personalities, and their original design is more than enough.
Secondly my goal in recycling and refreshing these dolls is to champion women in need of second chances. I look at these castaway dolls and feel a deep compassion for them. It wasn’t until I started working with dolls that not only looked inappropriate and overdone, but also mistreated, did my mind click on the deeper meaning of this project. For me, these dolls have also come to represent stories of real women with real struggles. Women who feel cast aside, damaged, worthless. Women who feel hopeless like there is no way out. I truly hope my project gives such women some small feeling of hope, like change and redemption are possible, like healing is possible, like their future can be beautiful and whole.
Ten percent of all sales from this exhibition will be donated to Elizabeth Village in Georgetown. Their mission is to help women and children in times of need to be safe and loved and have a second chance (just like these dolls).
My first goal with the New Life Doll Project is to find used, “well-loved”, discarded barbies second-hand and breathe new life into them to promote natural beauty and modesty. This change is intended not only for a younger generation but for the current one as well. I rework their face, recondition, cut, and sometimes resew their hair, and clothe them in more appropriate outfits. The clothes I choose are also second-hand, a lot of them dating back to the 60s. I’d love for the viewers to know that they do not have to dress provocatively or overly cover their natural faces to be seen or valued. Who they are, their minds, their personalities, and their original design is more than enough.
Secondly my goal in recycling and refreshing these dolls is to champion women in need of second chances. I look at these castaway dolls and feel a deep compassion for them. It wasn’t until I started working with dolls that not only looked inappropriate and overdone, but also mistreated, did my mind click on the deeper meaning of this project. For me, these dolls have also come to represent stories of real women with real struggles. Women who feel cast aside, damaged, worthless. Women who feel hopeless like there is no way out. I truly hope my project gives such women some small feeling of hope, like change and redemption are possible, like healing is possible, like their future can be beautiful and whole.
Ten percent of all sales from this exhibition will be donated to Elizabeth Village in Georgetown. Their mission is to help women and children in times of need to be safe and loved and have a second chance (just like these dolls).
All Lexington Art League programs are made possible through the generous support of LexArts.
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The Kentucky Arts Council, a state arts agency, provides operating support to the Lexington Art League with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support provided by Lexington Parks & Recreation.
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