Dolls
Seminole Dolls, Artist Statement 10/19 Jessica Phrogus
I am part Seminole and I continue the tradition of making dolls.
My dolls start with left overs, something needing a place to belong.
This is the basis for an identity yearning for validation. Seemingly half of the American people are seeking roots – wanting to understand their heritage, wanting to be from somewhere, in a new country which dropped and hid the past. This is a phenomenon I study.
Since childhood in a traveling family, I made up my world. I sewed my family and my sister and brothers imagined being anywhere but here. A little later I started sewing Seminole piecework dolls, then later groups of dolls, then larger dolls which usually were 13 to a tribe. The intention was to use of scraps and things, found around and see what happened, never a plan of the result, but there forms a clan and a story, like playing dolls. The horse clan speaks of the trail of tears, now there are maybe 12 clans of varying sizes, patterns and surroundings, evolving into installations.
Read MoreI am part Seminole and I continue the tradition of making dolls.
My dolls start with left overs, something needing a place to belong.
This is the basis for an identity yearning for validation. Seemingly half of the American people are seeking roots – wanting to understand their heritage, wanting to be from somewhere, in a new country which dropped and hid the past. This is a phenomenon I study.
Since childhood in a traveling family, I made up my world. I sewed my family and my sister and brothers imagined being anywhere but here. A little later I started sewing Seminole piecework dolls, then later groups of dolls, then larger dolls which usually were 13 to a tribe. The intention was to use of scraps and things, found around and see what happened, never a plan of the result, but there forms a clan and a story, like playing dolls. The horse clan speaks of the trail of tears, now there are maybe 12 clans of varying sizes, patterns and surroundings, evolving into installations.
