Strange Metaphors for Terrible Events

Eva Holts

I work with toys mostly, Barbie in particular.

Barbie is an interesting object to explore, because these dolls are created in the image and likeness of human beings. They are static, always smiling and happy with everything happening to them, no matter what goes on during the photo session. It looks so strange and unnatural, making you think about the limits of human acceptability.

My work is based on images that emerge from the depths of my subconscious. These images do not hold a fixed meaning. They encourage viewers to form their own interpretations of my work, giving rise to a multiplicity of meanings for each piece. 

I am interested in the topic of violence against human will, probably because I grew up in a religious family. In my work, you can feel the tension that is about to explode between characters, and I show these characters a minute before the total loss of their self-control. My work is made further strange by the smiling faces of the Barbies, who seem unfazed by everything going on around them. 

I like creating an alternative world for my characters through hand-painted backdrops, which I integrate into settings from everyday life. These backdrops emphasize the pretense and absurdity of the different situations that surround us. My work hints at the fact that the world is not as obvious as we might think, and that deeper unseen forces are at play.

This series of my work responds to the events that are currently taking place in Ukraine due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country. 

I have been using food as a participant in my work for a while. I had a kind of  sacred attitude towards food because once I fasted for a long time and could not eat any of the things I really wanted to. Now, the war has further driven home how integral food is to survival. 

This year, not all Ukrainians could afford to celebrate Easter with an Easter cake and Easter eggs this year. Many were forced to eat dry pasta or bread due to a lack of normal food during shootings or occupation, or while fleeing the country, instead of peacefully celebrating Easter at the dining table with their nearest and dearest. I tried to capture this in my work which features a photo of Easter cakes with pasta. 

In my photo of a Barbie with a Chupa Chups lollipop, on her way to meet a skeleton, I allude to the Latin phrase ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’ (‘Sweet and honorable to die for the homeland’). It reminds me of the men who have no option but to defend their country on the battlefield in the face of the Russian invasion. 

Recently I also returned to the apartment I used to live in before the war, to find it burned to the ground. It was unbelievably frightening to go back to a house that is now in ruins, especially when you know that not everyone who lived there was safely rescued. You turn on a flashlight and your heart sinks: what if a beast suddenly flies out of the closet?

For all you know,  it has already been let out, and is breathing down your neck right now.