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Dismembered body parts are a girl’s best friend

Jill

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Which do you prefer? Dismembered body part earrings, or plastic boobie pendants?

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I like to mutilate my Barbies as much as the next girl,* but I’m still a little uncomfortable with wearing broken Barbies as jewelry.

via Trina.

*No, really. As a child, Barbie mutilation was a leading sport in my house.

15 thoughts on Dismembered body parts are a girl’s best friend

  3. the boobs are kind of funny, if only cuz they took me by surprise. thats not for little girls is it?

  4. We used to use ours for bungee jumping, with the cord around her neck rather than her feet because her feet were too small. Also, she was regularly beaten up by my She-Ra action figure

  5. It’s funny because I hate Barbie, and went looking for some dead barbie pictures for fun, only to find them not so fun. Am I the only one who is a little ambivalent — I mean I want her dead because of what she symbloizes (to me), but as soon as I see her mutilated or drowned or cut into pieces she symbolizes something else altogether…

  6. The artist says:

    Whether you love her or hate her, there are few who feel neutral about the plastic princess. I am fascinated with who she is as a cultural icon, her distinguished celebrity status, and the enormous impact she has had on our society. Specifically, I’m intrigued with her influence in defining gender roles of women in contemporary American culture.

    My childhood spent with Barbie cultivated my interest in adornment. Extensive play with the doll and her miniature world strengthened my dexterity. This is a skill imperative to the art of jewelry making. Hence it feels natural for me to make art on a small scale.

    I enjoy the funny juxtaposition of wearing the body, on the body. Barbie has become the accessory instead of being accessorized. I take pleasure in the contrast and contradiction of something mass-produced being transformed and revealed as a unique, handmade, wearable piece of art.

    from her website.
    I bolded the stuff I thought was interesting.
    It’s telling that the responses to this art are all “I did [blank] to my Barbie when I was a little girl.” My own response: I didn’t play much with Barbie, but when I did, I cut her hair off and gave her cuter, sometimes very short hairstyles.

  7. I saw these more as a statement on the body and on commercialization of our bodies. The artist’s statement on Barbie becoming an accessory is interesting as well, but the jewelry speaks more to me on the level of consumer objectification. I guess all of that could be boiled down to “It’s supposed to be disturbing”.

    The artist’s portfolio also features quite a few pieces using “Ken” parts–some of them are quite interesting. I find it disturbing and appealing, not from an “I hate Barbie” sort of view, but I like how the art has elicited such different reactions from people.

  8. I know that some people don’t like barbie, but it bothers me that someone thinks she deserves to die this way.

  10. I actually rather like both of those. But then I do wear human teeth (that aren’t mine) and coveted the fake human flesh clothes I found online ages ago.

  12. Ok so I have to say I like the earings. Granted I’d like them much more without the fetishistic dismembered women’s body parts aspect, like say if they were more gender ambiguous for instance. Then I’d so wear them so often.

  13. I like that juxtaposition Vanessa!

    I knew an artist who stuck a hole bunch of naked barbies on some floral foam and then sprayed the whole thing bright red, their hair standing up and their arms and legs entwined and stretched out as if trapped.

    With the right dress-up the jewelry speaks the perfect irony.

  15. I LOVE this jewelry. I don’t find it disturbing in the least. I actually think it is a refreshing transformation. I am usually pretty sensitive to violent imagery, yet these pieces do not speak “dismemberment” to me. Each “part” seems to stand as its form within a new body. If they were dripping fake Barbie blood or something like that it would be a different story. I can’t think of a more edifying way of redefining such a prolific, destructive icon.

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