25: Engineer

Barbie → girls → hormones → neurotransmitters → emotions → smiling → chemicals → catalyst structure → brain → norephinephrine → serotonin → dopamine → endorphins → moods → happiness → constant → permanent

Happiness is chemicals in your brain. Barbie either has a naturally high amount of these substances in her brain, she’s medicated, or constantly on drugs. Or maybe she has another chemical in her brain that nobody else has. Or maybe nothing is in her head at all because she’s a fucking doll. But I still feel like she’s mocking me with the smile on her face.

2: No Directive

(photos by me)

One of the biggest complaints with Barbie is that she is too thin and it sets unrealistic expectations for young girls that are literally impossible to reach. Anorexia and Bulimia are a massive problem with young girls. Not everyone agrees but there is evidence that society and its beauty standards that are EVERYWHERE on television, magazines, and advertisements are affecting the rise in these conditions. I set up and took this photo because it shows Barbie making herself puke so she can meet these goals of being thin and therefore pretty. I like the contrast of her being face first in the toilet but also smiling as if to say, “It’s worth it!” to all the little girls out there.

1: No Directive

(photos by me)

The first thought that came to my mind with Project 54 was to show Barbie without tattoos and then with them. Even in 2012, tattoos get mixed reviews. My idea was to show “perfect” and “flawless” Barbie with tattoos. She’s still the same but for some that would remove all of her appeal and she would no longer be the ideal. Also, I wanted to show Barbie with some individuality. Just by adding the temporary tattoos (which worked surprisingly well on her plastic skin) she looks different than all the other barbies on the shelf.