craftgrrl | A custom Barbie I made a couple semesters ago

I got back in touch with my artistic side last fall (2003) when I accidentally signed up for an art class called "The Art of Horticulture" and I had to do this final project. I decided to do a rendition of Mother Earth using the My Size Barbie I had bought my younger sister when I was in fifth grade but which she had, well, ruined. I had cleaned her up a bit and removed the rest of her hair, so I bought a wig for her from ebay and dressed her up. I just recently came across the photo on the site, and I was thrilled to see it.

She was inspired by Michael Pollan's book Second Nature and sort of represents the ambivalent nature that a "Mother Nature" figure would have about the world- she embraces destruction and life at the same time- she doesn't care when a volcanoe erupts or a hurricane destroys everything, or if there is a forest fire. I think Barbie was a really good way to represent this.