The one thing that human beings do well, apart from killing things, is to make things: If you like we both giveth and taketh away.
Why we make things, intrigues me. Of course the obvious reason is to trade between ourselves and the trading of objects such as jewellery, is as old as the hills.
The type of things made by human beings may have started off as tools to help them survive, for example stone tools, but the evolution of Homo sapiens from earlier ancestors, generated a species that liked to make things for other reasons, such as adornment and with a heavy emphasis on symbolism and spiritualism.
Jewellery is an obvious candidate for both adornment and symbolism. Some of the earliest known jewellery, a set of pearl beads, is postulated to have dated back to at least 75,000 years ago. This evidence is still being argued over, but even more evidence in the form of shell beads with pigmented areas, has been found in Morocco, dating back to around 82,000 years ago. What is particularly interesting about these beads is that they were found far inland and so suggest trade had occurred.
It seems that symbolism, through adornment and objectification, is something that is deep at the hearts of being a human. Symbolism allows us to show to others what we stand for and what our beliefs are. It displays status, wealth and power. No doubt it is also at the heart of our reproduction and the behaviour we use to be successful at reproducing ourselves in the form of our children.
Barbie is not a doll…
In my opinion, one of the most powerful and persistent art forms that also embodies symbolism, is the making of ‘dolls’. When I use the term ‘doll’ what I really mean is the handmade creation of an image of a human being: whether this be a literal, or a heavily stylised interpretation. Dolls encapsulate the different aspects of our humanness, our needs and our beliefs. One of the most famous dolls is the Venus of Willendorf. The Venus is around 25,000 years old and was discovered on the banks of the Danube river in Austria. The Venus is a female human which, to put it nicely, is a little chubby, chubby, however in all the rights places, as far as Neolithic humans were concerned, as the hips and breasts are overtly symbolic of reproduction. It is also worth noting that the Venus is not unique and many, many similar forms have been found all over the world.
Our obsession with symbolism in the form of dolls has continued ever since and global cultures have created gods in the images of the human form. The ancient Mayan lords depicted themselves as divine kings in elaborate sculptures or smaller jade carvings, which represented their connection between heaven and earth.
Coming back into the 21st century, this long, long tradition of the depiction of human strengths through the symbolism of dolls continues. An example of an artist working in this area is Heather who creates the most amazing dolls.
One of her dolls, called Freedom depicts the human need to be a free spirit and her choice of white as the main colour of the doll, touches on the spiritual association we have with freedom and heaven.
Another doll (my favourite) is called La Loba – Wolf Woman, she is, to me, symbolic of the power and strength of womankind and the innovation of self reliance.
One thing that I believe all handmade and hand crafted items have, is a strength and a power that is imbued into the piece by the maker. This can be seen in the presence of the pieces on the wearer, or when you hold and look into the object.
Nothing manufactured can possibly hold this kind of strength, and objects such as dolls, must be the most powerful of all of our art?
Heathers current collection of handmade dolls can be seen here:
