Doll photos are disturbing/creepy?

Not so much artistic photography, but I was explaining the hobby to my sister and showing photos of my girls... she thought they were kinda weird but kinda cute, until I showed her a photo of one without eyes in.... immediately creeped out!! When I was younger I collected porcelain dolls and people that came over had the same kind of reaction to those too, especially my toddler sized one. I think theres definitely a media fueled fear of dolls thats been around for so long it's become peoples default reaction to fear them or be unsettled by them... and before media in even older times, the use of effigies and humanoid figures in witch craft and the like which is probably what inspired the doll trope in the first place. Kinda cool how those feelings continue on today, I guess!! Not so cool when you're trying to share a passion...

 

I'm curious, did you ever show them doll pictures not taken by you?
Because there are certainly some doll photos that even make my skin crawl, are uncanney valley or otherwise really difficult for me to look at...and I collect those dolls and take photos myself

Else it might just be a usual discomfort for dolls paired with “he...he takes pictures with them?!“.
I'm also sure some of them are just your usual “only x is art“ people, but you can't deny that many are weirded out by dolls and even more by the thought of a grown person collecting them.

 

I am an animator and there is a term for the concept I think they are experiencing. "The Uncanny Valley"

The theory goes, that as you take a non-real thing closer and closer to realism, it gets super creepy the closer you get to realism. It goes away once you achieve realism. As something gets more realistic, the things that are not real start to stick out and make the thing disturbing.

Some examples are animation and CG characters that are realistic. "Final Fantasy", "Polar Express", "Beowulf", and most recently Princess Leah in "Rogue One".
Another example is some of the realistic robots that have been shown recently. Lots of discussion about why people find them so disturbing.

As something gets more realistic, every aspect that is not real, becomes disturbing to the viewer. Sounds like this might be what your viewers are reacting to.

I have an aunt that collects and makes porcelain dolls. She has a room full of them. All of her grand kids are terrified of the room. They thought I was super human for spending the night in there with the dolls. Lots of large realistic dolls the kids find terrifying, but I found really cool.

 

Hey there!
Personally, I really love the pictures you take! They're really unique, and the concepts are great as well. I can tell you put a lot of work into your dolls and your photography skills. I can understand why some people would find them a little creepy, but I think it's more of a "cool" creepy. I don't see why anyone would find them disturbing, but I guess it depends of the viewer's point of view? Maybe it's just not for everyone? Some people who aren't used to dolls and/or a little close minded could be put off at first, but you can't do anything about that. What I really want to say is that no matter what people say, please don't give up doing what you love! I know negative criticism is hard to take, but no matter what you do, some people are not gonna like it. I really admire your pictures though! I love the ambiance you create, and the mysterious vibes they give off!

 

I agree with @CartoonCrazy, I think it's the Uncanny Valley aesthetic. I myself have felt this way towards realistic robots. When it comes to dolls, mannequins, robots and sculptures I suppose there's something about how the light hits the eyes that remind me they're not alive. Depending on the expression or how the rest of the composition is, I may or may not experience feelings of discomfort.

Ours is a niche hobby as it is and people usually expect either more traditional or experimental works. I think it's great to challenge that anyway. There's room for all kinds of art...heck, I've seen potted plants spray painted all black and people sent that for exhibit (the poor plant).

 

A lot of adults seem to find dolls creepy, so it stands to reason that photos of them would have a similar reaction.

My sister has hated dolls her entire life. She calls them Dead Babies

Teddy

 

Horror movies doesn't help people to like dolls here either...T_T
Even though I saw some horror stuff, Im not scared of dolls still.
(I guess so many people get spooked too easily? lol...that reminds me of a friend...xD I use to scare her a lot. XD)

 

While I understand how some dolls may be deemed "creepy" (and most of these dolls I think the owners had the intent to make them that way) I have a hard time understanding how some find them ALL creepy. I checked out your photos on Flikr and I just don't see "creepy" anywhere most of them are depicting every day life or scenes. I suppose those opinions just can't be helped, doll fears seem as common as clown fears! As others have mentioned, I do think it's the realism of dolls, but knowing they're not supposed to feel real.

I don't share my dolls with everyone because so many people don't understand and appreciate them. I'm very close with my mother in law and even though I KNOW she has a fear of dolls I finally decided to show her mine. I figured, my doll looks so sweet and beautiful, how could anyone think she's creepy?! But the first thing my mother in law said was, "and you can sleep with her just sitting there like that!?" Haha I lost the battle I guess no matter how you portray them some people are just going to be weirded out.

 

The response I usually get to doll photography shown to other photographers and artists is:
"I hate dolls and they are always creepy but YOUR dolls (bjds I have shown them, not just mine) are totally okay! They're like, not looking evil at you."
Copernica and Aspen are the two exceptions to this but they have VERY intense stares.

 

I took a look at your photography and I think it's pretty cool!

Maybe it would help if you aimed for more naturalistic poses and settings? That might reduce some of the "creep" factor that people feel in response to your photography.

 

sadly, this is very accurate. so many books and movies have been made of haunted dolls people are terrified of them now. My family is used to bjds now, but they still hate them showing teeth or being small or without eyes and faceup and body. I think with time the BJD fandom will grow, dispelling doll fears. at least I hope so!

 

I like to collect vintage composition dolls also and those have made people leave my house! But I have ran into the same comments about photos of my bjds too. I think its like what others said that the realism of bjds freak out people but with the more "doll" like dolls, I think there is this weird fear of things that are meant to be child like and innocent. Such as clowns , I find clowns a bit scary but they aren't meant to be. I blame horror films lol

 

I found it strange too, when I took a photography class at college (we learned to use older cameras and develop films from those) and I did ask about doll photography, and one friend has shown doll photos (I think it was a porcelain doll) for critique. He just said that people just don't DO doll photos. Like he understood why we were asking, and found the hobby in itself nice, but unless an exhibition had that specific theme, he would not suggest to exhibit doll photos, any kind of doll photos. It's strange because he said that if we were to exhibit a doll we made, then that would be okay...
What people said that the dolls are lifelike, but enough so they can fool people thinking they are alive, it goes into that "soulless human uncanny valley" category almost immediately. They are too human to be appreciated as a nice doll but not enough so that it would have that wow effect. Even huge realistic dolls don't always have that.

 

I was rejected membership in a photography club because of the number of doll photos in my portfolio. As a serious non-professional photographer, it's something that I've simply resigned myself to. So, now I don't take doll photos.

 

Sounds like it's a club you wouldn't want to be a part of anyway.

Were they saying that human portrait photography is the only kind of photography? What if your portfolio was all landscapes, or insect macros? Not everyone is interested in portraits, not everyone even has a willing subject available.

Don't stop doing something you enjoy just because some people are jerks.

 

@Leiothrix that's the thing; I do want to be a member of this particular photography club. Photography is far more important to me than dolls, and I don't love doll photography so much that I'm not willing to give it a back seat to the other photographic genres that I enjoy more. Macro photography is my passion, to be honest. My point is, people don't take "doll photographers" seriously as photographers, especially if that's all you shoot. I think it'd be different if a person was already a professional or had already made a name for themselves as an artist, or if they had some wildly exceptional artistic talent with doll photography. To be fair, I agree with this group that diversification is good when it comes to a portfolio, as it shows a willingness to try new and different things, and demonstrates that the person is willing to learn and grow their skills as a photographer. 3,000 doll portraits that are more or less the same don't really demonstrate that in the same way. I appreciate that you seem offended on my behalf, and think the people in this photography club are "jerks", but it's really not necessary. I get their intention 100% and if I were them, I'd probably feel similarly.

 

Well, I'm only working with limited information here...

My point was if your portfolio only consisted of close-ups of bugs or flowers would you still have been rejected? If you're not interested in macros they all end up looking the same. And as far as technique goes, most of the time most of the work goes into finding the specimen rather than actually taking the photo.

For portraits it doesn't matter if the subject is a doll or human; either way you could have 3000 boring shots, or you could play with light/colour/texture/poses/props/etc to come up with something interesting.

I just don't like the "you're only a real x if you do it this way" style of barrier that some people put around various hobbies.

 

I feel that it's the same with many different avenues; if you do the unusual, you have to do it doubly well in order to get the same amount of credit. So, your doll portraits would have to be twice as good as a competent human portrait in order to be taken seriously. And that is a huge ask.

In my experience, camera clubs tend to be pretty conservative. If I see one more HDR sunset, I swear...

 

I agree with what a few people have said, about the "uncanny valley", the phenomenon of being disturbed by something that is very very close to looking human, yet something about it is subtly but distinctly "off". It's what makes many people find dolls themselves "creepy," and the issues can be even more prominent in photos because the doll may be frozen at an awkward angle or be catching the light in a strange way.

While your photos are definitely not "creepy" in the sense of theme and style, I hope you don't mind if I say that there are definitely some elements that I see throughout your portfolio (and in a lot of doll photography I see, really) that look distinctly "uncanny valley." These are things that doll people don't even notice because it's just doll-like and we like dolls, but to people who aren't used to seeing and working with them it is very unsettling and they probably don't even know why.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert on doll photography or even photography in general, but my artistic speciality is portrait drawing, so I know how the human face/body "should" look and how to identify what's "off."

A few specific aspects that I would hypothesize are contributing to the "creep-factor":

• EYES. I think this is the single-biggest thing. Yours are on the whole positioned very nicely (some of the more antique-style ones have a bit of the dead-center stare), but generally speaking this is probably the most likely thing to creep people out when it comes to dolls, because even eyes that are just a hair out of alignment look wrong. In regards to your photos specifically, I see several cases of the "lean-back." This is something I see a lot in doll photos, because we want to see all the pretty details of their faces and the colors of their eyes but we can't if the overhead lights are casting ugly shadows and unfortunately dolls are on average pretty terrible at looking UP. Plus, they're small so it can be hard to get your camera at or below eye level. So to compensate for these problems, many people will tip the whole doll backwards slightly to catch the light or face the camera at a better angle. This creates several problems.
  • The neck is left at a very stiff and uncomfortable-looking angle
  • The doll may appear generally off-balance
  • Back to the EYES, human's eyelids will get pushed up open wider when we look up and will naturally fall shut a little when we look down, but doll's eyes don't do that--when you photograph them from a low-angle, eyes that looked natural when viewed straight-on are suddenly wide with fear (or murderous intent), or focused blankly in the middle-distance at a weird angle that doesn't match the way you've posed them. You can see these elements in your photo entitled "Infatuation," for example.
• Also about eyes, anime eyes are REEEEEEAAALY hard to photograph in a natural way. This is because:
  • obviously, anime eyes don't really look natural at all--they suggest the human eye, but when it comes down to it they're very distorted, which is made worse by the fact that...
  • anime is a 2D medium, and implies a lot of details rather than actually showing them--for example, there are very few characters who actually don't have noses, they're just not drawn in detail because we don't tend to focus on people's noses when we look at their faces. When you translate that to 3D, though, you have to figure out how to deal with a nose that was originally only seen at certain angles but is now always there and interacts with light in a real and constant way. Same goes for eyes: the "eye shine" is a pretty key part of most anime eye designs, but if you have a 2D eye on a 3D face then you often get conflicts between where the drawing says the light is and where the light is really falling on the object, and that is more disorienting than you might think. So without very careful lighting, anime dolls will always look a little uncanny.
• Posing in general, especially when the sense of weight is wrong. If a figure looks like it should be falling over but somehow isn't, or should be leaving more of an indent in a cushion, or should be having more or less of an impact on other figures in the image, that really jumps out. And of course, dolls naturally don't always move exactly the way human bodies do... our skin folds and stretches, our muscles squish and bulge, heads only turn so far on our necks... and even small deviations from the normal human range of motion can break the illusion and become creepy. For example, in your photo "Dance" from Oct. 7, the range of the Smart Doll frame has resulted in what looks like a badly dislocated shoulder. These posing issues are inevitable, since dolls don't fold and bend exactly like humans, but it's important to keep an eye out for them, and figure out work-arounds, if you want to avoid the uncanny valley.

For people who like dolls, we look at these photos and see a cool doll and tend not to get distracted by (or rather, tend to get distracted from) the uncanny problems. But for people who don't have that association with what it is, what it isn't ("a normal person") jumps out a lot more.

Hope that was helpful/interesting!

 

Lots of people are afraid of dolls, unfortunately. It's the whole 'Uncanny Valley' thing. I think this is possibly why some people find dolls (especially porcelain dolls, realistic baby dolls and BJDs most of all) a little frightening; because they are very realistic looking yet not quite human. This can make some people feel uncomfortable. I would try not to take it personally, and put it down to personal taste. Not everyone likes dolls, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying your hobby or make you see your dolls as creepy I had a look at your photos and I think they are lovely

Alternatively, go with the "creepy" and take deliberately scary photos of your dolls. If the public insist that dolls are scary, then that can certainly be achieved! haha

 

Hi there! I was actually in the same boat up till a few months ago when I discovered BJDs on another site. I always thought dolls were just those old Victorian ones you see sometimes in thrift stores and in horror movies. My mom has always said she was creeped out by them thanks to a Twilight Zone episode and I just kinda adopted that. The funny part is that she loves Barbies and still has all of hers from when she was kid. I was always afraid that they would come to life and hurt me in some way. Once I found BJDs though I changed my tune. I do still find some to be super creepy, but I have a new appreciation for the them. They aren't as bad anymore. I guess my point is that dolls are just a touchy subject, always up for debate and discussion. And the media isn't helping. But just because some people don't like your dolls doesn't mean there won't be others out there who will be blown away by what you have. I hope my ramblings make sense.

 

I'm not a fan of Freud's work as a general rule (the man had serious issues), but I have to admit that he did get it right with the whole "unheimlich" thing. Of course, when your whole œuvre is a bunch of misses, does one hit really validate the collection?

 

My family hates my dolls. They don't like to see them - okay, they are mostly blank at the time so they might change their mind when they see them finished
There are some really creepy doll photos, but I think it also depends on the people what they find creepy But dolls are very popular on the creepy list...

 

Definitely can be summarized by "To each their own". As a kid I had a huge fear of dolls and any toys that moved, mainly because of the Chuckie movies and Toy Story. Had a Godzilla toy that would start moving on its own at night and shoot sparks from its mouth, which only made my fear worse. Over time I grew out of it though, not everyone else does sadly.

 

The name is Chucky....

People believe what they see. In the early 80tis the dutch cinema made a movie called The Elevator (De Lift). It was a story about experimental computers using brain tissue. It was tested into a elevator in some business building. A thunderstorm came and lightning struck the building. The experimental computer which controlled the 3 elevators came to life and of coarse became evil and start killing people.

The owner of the brand new building where the movie was shot liked the idea of the movie and that it was shot in his building. The building was operational about a week after the movie was broadcasted. But no one came in and some employees refused to work there. It took several weeks before the elevator was used again by some people. It took over a half a year before the elevator was fully used.

This is the power of movies, despite it is all fantasy. So a lot of todays adult doll fear has to do with the Chucky movies.

 

Being in the hobby for so long (not in bjd's, but taking off-doll pictures) I've noticed the people tend to think more realistic dolls are the creepiest. Unless they are so realistic to the point you don't know if its a doll (but I still have a feeling they will find it creepy when find out). And seeing the posts before mine after writting this I guess my theory seems to have some scientific base?! I'm happy to have a name to give it now.
I never felt afraid of doll, doesnt matter how creepy they are suppose to be, when I was a child my sister would say things like "if you look in the doll's eyes after midnight they will move because the doll gets possessed" and it would only make me curious and I would wait for the right time and stare for minutes until give up feeling like a fool. But there are people so afraid of dolls, that doesnt matter how cute and beautifull it is, they are hella afraid. So I would guess its not really something about the doll itself being creepy or not, but about how people feel about dolls in general. Past experiences seem to have a lot to do with it as some people say things like "when I was a child I saw this doll move and since than I hate dolls".
When I bought my pukipuki I was all over saying she is cute and my mom, sister, friends, were all like "its creepy" "she looks like a witch" and things like that. Personally, I don't mind at all. You find my doll creepy? I can be creepier. I can murder you while you sleep joking haha, but personally I think its fun toinect people fear. I'm not dark, I'm more to the cute side. But for me, the fact your pictures make people feel something, even if its fear, its something good. I would never stop doing something because people think its creepy or weird or even bad. Unlees they are paying my bills... Or maybe despite it (sorry mom and dad).
But to be fair, I do find some doll related things creepy like anime eyes (not everytime, but as someone mentioned, its just hard to shoot so, it can get creepy), some children toys mechanisms (there is this brazilian doll - dont know if we can mention off topic dolls here but - called guigui I made a little search and apparently there is a australian version called giggles, and she has this smiling face and a weird laugh with moving eyes, I hate it, it doesnt really scares me, but its like... so wrong! lol)...

 

Just recently my husband (non bjd collector)told me how offended he was when a co worker asked him if I also collects toys like he does..
he showed her bjd pictures he found from google and this old lady told him BJD’s are creepy ...
he said he felt offended for me cause he said he tried to find the best pictures on google so when he was told their creepy he was upset.
I told him he can’t please everybody though recently a classmate from college tag me a picture of these creepy porcelain doll ,(I’m not even sure if it’s s porcelain cause she moves her face ) I did get offended and commented a photo of my doll saying does my doll look anything like that ? She was basically saying my doll was creepy ...

 

The uncanny valley is a powerful thing. Personally, I love doll photos; I especially love ones that show off the time and effort that goes into the sculpt

 

Weirdly, I understand it. When I first got into BJD, looking at doll photos felt devious. Like I was looking at something I shouldn't (and delighting in it anyway!). I can see where that may be shocking to people.

 

my family had that same Godzilla!
on a similar note, my roommate is terrified of dolls. I was very worried about admitting that I liked a bjd so much I might even buy it... but I couldn't hold back and I told her. We are such close friends that there was no point in me buying such a big thing, only to hide it. I showed her pictures (and it doesn't hurt that his promo photos are gorgeous) and she said, "Wow, he's beautiful! Is that really a doll?" So well lit, and shot so that joints were hidden, she was astounded and impressed. We have spent the day looking at dolls together, finding ones that are cool and dark or small and adorable. And she's been fine.
I think it's to do with her fear of porcelain dolls, aka the fact that they're kinda a real but not really nearly enough, vs the fact that a lot of bjds, even when they look magical or deadly, look and pose at least sort of like real people. To her and I think a lot of people, bjd look like weird or big action figures, not like 'dolls.' But then again, I make a lot of art dolls and fantasy creatures, so she may be used that now.

 

Also, somewhat humorously, I collect several kinds of toys- Jurassic Park, TMNT, Lego, many, but including Build a Bear. And you should hear what some people have to say about how 'creepy/weird/awkward' that is. My new plan is that when they think that about a stuffed animal, I'll whip out a picture of my Titan when he's here, and be like, "You think that's creepy? Look at my other bear!" hahaha
Honestly though from an artist's perspective, I've found the best thing, personally, for me is to separate. I like to make objects, and some things that could even be counted as toys. They're made meticulously, and have different and often adult themes. That's the influence of my love of toys, but as for my actual toys, I rarely find a way to work them into my art. Sometimes, but that's usually in the form of drawings or sketches, or painting. Sometimes the influence of a new piece. But rarely do they feature.

 

I think possibly it's also assumptions people make about your artistic intent.

For example, you've got a photo of a doll crossing a road. Why not a real life woman on a real road? For people in the hobby, it's kinda normal to want to take photos of your collection. For outsiders, they might assume you're trying to Say Something with your work.

Especially the one of the dolls looking at paintings. If I saw that in an art gallery, I'd assume it Meant Something: fake people looking at fake pictures just like I'm looking at this picture now. Ooooh! WHAT IS ART!

Stuff dolls are associated with - children. Fakeness. Barbie. Mass production. Objects. People being objects. Children, but in a creepy way. Women being commodities.

My guess is, lots of observers are bringing their ideas about dolls and assuming you have some kind of deeper meaning for using them. Rather than, "I like dolls and here are miniature artworks ive created with them" photos.

 

It's usually not a matter of "overthinking" and looking for things to dislike about a photo. It's that our brains make a bunch of connections between our memories and experiences and associations, and some of those connections come out as "WEIRD, MAYBE DANGER, DON'T LIKE."

For example, what @ASlipInTime said about dolls and their association with children, artificiality, women, consumerism, etc... it's not like people usually see a doll and go "I shall now write out a list of keywords to form a psychological profile of the concept of doll". Those are just the things and situations most of us grow up encountering in relation to dolls, so it's natural that our brains would connect images of dolls with those experiences.

 

I think alot of poeple find dolls weird. I my self am not sure why. As I had dolls from a veryvery young age. I had a friend that used to pull dolls heads off because she didnt like them and my brother was down right terrified of dolls. I think alot of it has to do with up bringing and horror. I think horror movies put a lot of negative ideas in peoples heads.

 

I'm not an artist, but I come from a family of artists and grew up immersed in art culture, and I have to respectfully disagree that people are "overthinking" to look for a message or deeper meaning in a photograph (or painting, portrait, poem, film, etc). When you are a member of an art community, displaying work for people to see, you have to expect that people will see it as art, not just "a photo of a thing." That's the difference between an Ansel Adams and a snapshot of a mountain lake in a brochure--yes, the skill level is higher, but there is soul in it, and intention, and meaning, and the artist is joining a conversation, so to speak, of all the artists before and contemporary to him or her. To put it another way, the reason I find BJDs to be "art" in a way a Barbie is not is not only the skill and proficiency in the execution of the object, but the invitation to the viewer/consumer to participate. A BJD invites you to help "complete" the work, to put your own ideas and heart into it. Likewise, when you do an art show and put your work in a public sphere as "art," you (intentionally or not) invite others to view and think and feel in response to your work. You, as the creator of the art, don't have to agree with or even like the meanings people project onto your work, but it's against your own best interest to object to it...

 

Extremely well put

 

Great thread! I hadn't heard the term 'uncanny valley' but it doesn't surprise me at all that there's a term for the phenomenon!

This isn't the most coherent post...I'm kind of thinking out loud, so please forgive a bit of meandering. As far as personal experience, I've never really tried to share my photos outside DoA other than on my website and FB, and negative reactions are never really about the artistic efficacy of an individual photo (particularly as I don't consider the vast majority of mine to be what I'd call art, but rather lightweight storytelling involving multiple images) but on whether or not Wiishu himself bothers them. Same in RL. I take Wiishu out with me a lot and those who don't find him cute or cool are creeped out, inevitably because he's just that degree too real. Even people who are into "normal" dolls, i.e. setabout or baby-doll, are sometimes put off by his realistic movement, especially when they pick him up and he curls naturally in their hand. And his face is far from the most realistic. I think the real difference in BJDs is the very thing that makes them BJDs, i.e. their movable joints and changing body language.

I've never heard anyone mention a revulsion associated with a movie, so I think it might have as much to do with human expectations and what the gut considers real and not real as cultural conditioning. Setabout collectibles enter the realm of statuary, which is as old as the first human art.

@Kittzel: All points extremely well put. Composites pose their own problem, and not just in BJD photography. No matter what you do, the light source, in wavelength, direction and/or bounce light, just isn't the same, and the foreground figure (alive or resin) just doesn't quite fit. I'm really impressed with those who do composites well, but in general, I prefer the in situ shots. Photography buffs are accustomed to the various ways cameras play with depth of field and they're also used to the natural depth of field that helps the human eye and brain create order out of the environment. Composites are neither one nor the other and I think people sense that on a gut level and respond accordingly. I have the same problem with composites using photos of real people. If it's not inherently a multi-layer effect, it rarely feels quite right. When you add to it the unusual way that resin responds to light, the "right but not right" can kick in with a vengeance. I think of the early CGI animes where realistic CGI provided the super realistic and detailed backgrounds for standard animated figures. Until the technology was there to balance the styles, a lot of people resisted the whole idea.

That whole eye-focus thing is huge in making the stomach queasy when it's wrong and it's so hard to get spot on. It's why most people find it difficult to look wall or cross-eyed people in the eye. I used to do a lot of portraiture (painting) and I spent several years in the graphic novel business, and getting the eyes to focus on an object is the #1 key to making an image live and breathe. As you pointed out, it's more than pointing the head in the general direction of the object in question, or at the camera. Also, BJD photography tends to focus on capturing every detail, especially in the eyes, and that can sometimes be a detriment. With the eyes somewhat shadowed, a well-placed highlight can set the focus.

It seems to me that anyone sharing their art definitely needs a thick skin and a sense of what they want out of the experience of sharing. George Barr, a very accomplished and lovely SF artist from a few years back, used to say (and I paraphrase freely...he was much kinder) Art is communication. If the artist fails to make their point, it's not the fault of the consumer. Another very smart guy said, regarding my concerns that my novel might offend certain people (and again I paraphrase) that anything worth doing will offend someone. Or put another way, some people will find a way to be offended no matter what you do or how you say it.

Whether or not there is something buried in our DNA that regards art this way, the cultural assumption regarding art is that the image is the beginning...or focal point...of a dialogue between the creator and the consumer. In that context, no matter how impressive the technique involved, a picture without a point or a story or a focus or a raison d'etre, is just a picture. An exercise in technique. What turns it into art is the vision and the soul behind it. If the artist fails to point the viewer in some direction the viewer will either dismiss the work or, if something does catch their eye, will try to make up a story to fill the silence. What you think you're saying might not be what the consumer takes out of it...that's the dialogue part...but the picture is the opening line.

Sometimes all it takes is a well-chosen title.

 

Most people who aren't doll collectors themselves would very likely look at that image and think "Why would they use a doll when they could have just used a human?" Photographing a person would be easier and more typical (the 'simple' solution), so it's understandable they'd wonder why you chose something so atypical and speculate as to its message/purpose, especially given that the context of an art gallery by its nature invites people to consider what they're looking at with more than casual 'pretty picture' attention.