Bad Girl Barbie
When I was growing up, I had no interest in either dolls or action figures. Nothing about those plastic hideosities appealed to me. It wasn’t until comic artist Todd McFarlane began making his line of action figures that I became fascinated with the possibilities of others making their quality creations. Then one day an order of two limited edition Barbies came to the comics and collectibles shop I managed at the time and I was beyond impressed. Despite being dolls with limited articulation, I was impressed with the design, the accessories, and the boxing. The figures had been specially ordered for two of our customers and were limited in production, so there was no way I could get one for myself even had I wanted to. Truthfully, part of me wanted one.
Not long after my first foray into the internet, I began seeing memes with Barbie positioned in ways that would likely mortify her creator. But making funny memes with Barbie dolls is easy, other than the jokes themselves, they weren’t all that impressive. But there are others like Gavin, a photographer from Australia, who works wonders with the blond phenomenon. His creations range from the adorable to the erotic. When you look at his photos, the one most apparent thing is the painstaking detail of each setting his dolls are placed. He has a deep respect for the history and legend of Barbie, as is evidenced by the care in which he presents his amazing work.
There were so many images that I would have liked to have added to this article, but then you might not check out his other photos at DeviantArt, the link to which you can find at the end of our interview.
“Boys don’t play with dolls, they play with action figures”. Did you have any Barbie dolls growing up?
I absolutely know what you mean, but when I was a kid, I really tried to fit in. I don’t really know whether that was the reason, but I did play with toys traditionally tailored to be boys’ toys like Meccano and train sets. As it turned out, I was never really good at fitting in, anyway. I was a gentle, quiet, and sensitive boy. Being tall and skinny didn’t help, and I was often bullied at school. I was always artistic, and music was my refuge in my teenage years. While my sisters had dolls, they didn’t interest me at the time.
What is it that drew you to Barbie?
I first became interested in Barbie dolls as an adult, when I noticed a doll that was given to a child for their Birthday. This Barbie looked so much different from those that I remembered in my childhood years. Barbie had clearly come a long way since then. Her body had become articulated, and while her face still had that cheerful expression, it was so different and possessed a hint of mischief (at least in my mind). While that doll didn’t spark an instant passion for Barbie dolls, it made me start thinking about them.
Which came first, your interest in Barbie or photography?
It was Barbie that first interested me, and photographing the dolls was a result of that. I was also inspired by a series of Barbie photos I saw posted online that was created by Sarah Haney. I marveled at how expressive the photos were, especially considering she was using older Barbie dolls, and I found her use of light quite remarkable.
It must have been shortly after I started taking some photos of Barbies when I had a dream one night. In my dream, I was talking to one of my friends and they must have said something about how my photos were silly, or something like that, and then (still in my dream), I had a bit of a rant about how passionate I was about what I was doing. After I woke up, I realized just how important it was to me.
Was there any time when other dolls came into consideration for your work, as opposed to Barbie?
Barbie dolls are my favorite dolls, because I think they look pretty, sweet, cheerful, and feminine, and they come in a huge range of different faces. I also appreciate some of the dolls made by Integrity, which are fashion dolls for the adult collector, and I have used some Candi Girls doll bodies (the variant made by Hamilton), and put Barbie doll heads on them. I use dolls with Candi Girls doll bodies mainly in portrait-style photos because while they have little articulation, they have much bigger and more defined busts.
You’re more than just a photographer and you’re basically a fashion and set designer as well. Is the process of coming up with ideas and finding the proper accouterments as easy as people may think, or is it a complex operation? In other words, how long does it take to go from concept, set design, and photoshoot?
Ideas for photos come from a range of different sources. I guess a lot of them come from something I’ve either seen or heard, and I just think of a way to express it using dolls. I don’t really try to analyse the process of how I get ideas, though.
Once I have an idea for a photo, I have to choose a doll that has the right face and body combo, select the right outfit (if required), and find suitable furniture and perhaps a background. I take care to match the doll and clothing with the image/message I want to convey, and this can take a bit of time. I never really know how long it takes, but it takes as long as it needs to until I’m happy, even if it means swapping doll heads.
Set design is easy enough for me, as I like to keep things simple and just use what I need to communicate an idea. I don’t like to clutter the photo with little bits and pieces that could distract the viewers’ eyes.
The posing of the dolls, getting a good camera angle, and getting the lighting right, are absolutely crucial. Dolls are not very good at looking into the camera lens, and getting this right is about finding a photo (amongst the many I take) in which I feel that she’s looking at me. This can really take some time.
Once I have chosen a photo, it’s editing time. This process focuses very much on Barbie’s face, and much of this is around making her look at the viewer (from Kenny’s POV). After all, Barbie’s eyeballs aren’t usually centered in the eye or focusing on the same point, and some of her features may not be quite symmetrical. I often also give her face just a little more expression, but subtlety is important here. As long as I chose an appropriate doll, achieving subtlety shouldn’t be difficult.
At any time, however, I sometimes change my mind and do something different.
Mean Girls
I’m curious about the hair. Do the dolls all come with the styles we see in your images, or do you have any part in creating the hairstyles of some of your dolls?
I’m not very good with doll hair. I wish I knew more about how to style and even re-root it. The only thing I know how to do is combat the frizz somewhat using fabric softener.
Had you been Barbie’s creator, is there anything you would have done differently than what its creator, Ruth Handler, did?
Barbie has had so many changes since her initial creation, not only to her face but to her body as well. While I’m not a big fan of some of the most modern Barbies, I feel lucky that the range of Barbies that have been created over the years gives me so much variety to get creative with. The only modification to a Barbie doll I would like to see is some kind of shoulder blade joint to move the shoulder up and forward. To me, this would provide for a greater range of even more charming poses, see for example, the Barbie movie promo photo of Margot Robbie in the Corvette.
Growing up, I had friends who would pose their GI Joe action figures with their sister’s Barbie dolls to look as if they were having sex. In your photographs you’ve done it with a werewolf, Darth Vader, and, of course, Ken. Did you ever do the GI Joe thing, or is he too big for Barbie (no pun intended)?
Your friends certainly had fun with their dolls! I do have a GI Joe, but he’s an old doll and now has a couple of issues, like cracks in joints. He did appear in a couple of my older photos, but I simply have more other types of male dolls, so I just use them.
Do you build your sets, or do all of them come from Barbie?
My furniture and accessories come from a variety of sources, some of which come from Barbie. I don’t build any of the sets, although some of the furniture items are handmade. For example, the BDSM gear and the wooden bed (and bedding) were all handmade and purchased online.
The background pictures that I use are mostly scrapbooking papers which are posters puttied onto a board. I find these quite suitable because they are designed to simply be background images. These include pictures of the beach.
I also want to mention that I love getting the chance to take photos of dolls outdoors. There’s a park only a short drive away which has a fabulous quiet wooded environment for photography, and it has small trees that look sort of Barbie-sized.
You’re such a goood kitty!
Despite being a stiff, piece of plastic, Barbie is quite flexible in that she can be arranged in a wide array of poses and placed in practically any kind of environment. Do you find this to be accurate as well?
There are a number of more modern Barbies that are quite flexible, and that’s great for some photos, but there are still some limitations, such as the shoulder issue I mentioned earlier, and most of them can’t twist their torso. Sometimes, I have worked around these limitations and done things like inserting another doll’s arm, together with strategic framing of the photo. There is such a variety of Barbie bodies, and I find that I can often find the doll that suits what I want to communicate. A few years ago, I was very aware of the articulation of doll bodies, but I have since found that there are often ways to work around a doll’s articulation limits, and some of that’s with the framing of the photo, or simply by the use of suggestion. I’ve learned that you don’t have to show everything to successfully communicate an idea.
Articulated shoulder blades would still be really good, though.
I would assume that you have an extensive collection of Barbies. How many do you have in your possession?
You assume correctly! I have a massive collection of Barbies. In fact, I have so many Barbies, that I’m too scared to count them. Seriously.
I like having lots of dolls, though. Lots of dolls with their different faces and different bodies really helped me find the right doll for a photo.
How was the response from family and friends? Did they understand and appreciate what you were doing? Did they give you grief, maybe?
Only my family and some friends know about my hobby. I am aware that my photos are not to everyone’s taste, so I have only shown friends and family a very selected sample. The responses people have been quite mixed, and only a few actually appreciate what I do. I remember one person said: “They’re children’s toys, aren’t they?” I think the fact that I can post my photos online anonymously gives me the freedom of expression that I need to make my photos without concerning myself with the reactions of people I care about.
They feel so real!
Why are your shots from Ken’s POV, and was this always part of your plan?
Yes, most of my photos are from Ken’s POV, and one reason for that is that It’s a great angle from which to appreciate Barbie, but probably the main reason is that I want to make the viewer feel involved in the photo. I know this may be confronting to some people, but it’s important for me for my photos to make people feel something, rather than just making pretty scenes with Barbies in them.
You mention “gender roles” and “sexual politics” in your DA bio, would you care to expand on that further?
I’ve always understood that Ken plays a secondary role to Barbie, and I portray Barbie to be happy and in control of her situation. In my photos, Barbie is the one who gets Ken, doing things like picking him up in nightclubs and bars, checking Ken out as he walks past, or rescuing him from the big monster while wearing a princess dress. She is also celebrated for having the greatest number of sexual partners (being the #1 player), rather than being looked down upon for having done so. Basically, she gets the ‘conquests’.
Babs knows what she wants and she knows how to get it, baby! She’s not shy about her sexuality or her sexual appetite, including for other females. She also likes to dabble in some BDSM, and Kenny secretly enjoys it. Sometimes, and always on her terms, she allows Ken to dominate her, but in these situations, she is always a willing participant and never unhappy.
She also doesn’t need Kenny to do things for her. For example, she’s quite capable of getting her truck going again after it breaks down.
Barbie is also happy to use her feminine charms to get her Ken, and she always succeeds. By the way, Kenny is fine with his situation. After all, he has a great time, too.
This brings me to an important point. While I understand that my photos are not for a general audience, I strive to make my photos fun and to make people smile. I never want to portray my dolls as being humiliated or have anything nasty or vicious happening to them.
We’re just playing, officer.
What about your fans; What has the response been since you began posting shots on DeviantArt?
The responses I’ve had from my fans on DeviantArt have been really positive, and I get some comments about how much people enjoy my gallery. Early on, while I quickly picked up a few followers, I did get a few haters, but the haters have gradually gone away over time. I think my photos were generally not as good back then, as I was still working out my direction and style. I’ve learned a lot, but there’s always more to learn.
Who are some of your favorite artists and photographers?
My favorite photographer would have to be Sarah Haney. Her series of photos of Barbie were inspirational. Her photos showed an imagined darker side of Barbie’s life away from the public persona. While it’s not the direction I took, it opened my eyes to how to photograph Barbie, and how the titles, in combination with each photo, told a story.
There are a couple of artists on DeviantArt that I have a great deal of respect for, but I only know them by their usernames.
My favorite musical artists are Robyn, Sia, and Goldfrapp.
In your DA bio, you mention the case of Barbie vs. Tom Forsythe, so I’m assuming that prevents you from selling your photographs even though they’re only parodies. Yes?
No, my mention of that case is in regard to the ruling that Tom Forsythe’s use of copyrighted material was considered ‘fair use’, as his photos were parodies that reference Barbies. So, my reason for mentioning this is I am suggesting that my use of Barbie in my photos is a parody of her innocent persona, and are therefore a ‘fair use’ of copyrighted material. I haven’t sold, or even tried to sell, any of my photos, anyway.
Troops! Today the partirarchy falls!
This might be a stupid question, but have you seen the Barbie movie? What did you think about it?
Oh yes, I saw the movie as soon as I possibly could. I thought it was a fun movie, and I felt that it was right that it dealt with (to some extent) some of the issues a lot of people have with Barbie. The sets were awesome!
I’m sure you’ve heard all the bitching about the film being “emasculating” and “insulting” to men. What do you have to say to the criticism? Do you feel that any of the negative criticisms levelled against it are valid?
I don’t think the movie is against masculinity, but I think it’s against toxic masculinity, and fair enough, too. By the end of the movie, I felt that they were trying to find a middle ground between two extremes, one in which Kens had no individual identity, and the other extreme of the patriarchy of the ‘Real World’, and moving towards a world in which no gender dominated the other.
I think both men and women suffer in our society where traditionally masculine traits are most valued. While this situation clearly inhibits women from gaining positions of power, men can also suffer. As men grow up, they’re taught not to show emotion, not to value relationships, and to stand on their own two feet. They grow up lonely and have trouble understanding their own emotions or the emotions of others. I’ve never been good at this traditional masculine thing.
Barbie has been popular since her debut in 1959, becoming a phenomenon almost overnight. Could you have ever imagined that she would become as popular as she is now, since the release of the Barbie film?
It’s absolutely amazing! I knew it would be popular and would get a lot of attention, but the interest out there is on another level!
By the way, I’ve ordered an ‘I am Kenough’ hoodie. As soon as I saw it in the movie, I knew I just had to have one.
You can follow this link for more of Gavin’s outstanding Barbie images.
