Themes of family power relations, traditional patriarchy, control and subordination pervade the installation, The Plaything. As do intimations of incest and child abuse.

I have attempted to suggest, through the framed portraits crowding the walls, an institutionalised male control over the family and privileges [mis]used.

Subordinate to this male presence, the figure on the floor alludes to the split from unashamed integrity to fearful, silenced concealment within the child.

Ambiguity leaks into the reading of the work through the expressive masked eye and the make-up around the eyes of the doll, implying the conflicts as well as the connections within a child’s sexuality and innocence, and incest and love.