Jessica Harrison (Scottish, b. 1982) Emma from the series Broken Ladies, 2013 Found ceramic, epoxy resin, enamel paint, acrylic varnish Collection of Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell
Emma is a repurposed, mass-produced ceramic doll that is part
of a series of works called Broken Ladies. Jessica Harrison alters
figurines that represent traditional beauty and expectations of
women to be perfect and ladylike, and disfigures them into
grotesque creations. The figures maintain their elegant poses
and beautiful attire while participating in their mutilation. This
contrast of beauty and gore allows them to heighten one
another. Harrison states that, “Broken figurines describe a
turning inside out of middle-class Englishness; a self-destructive
ornamentation where object becomes organ, private becomes
public, inside becomes outside.” Harrison challenges the taboos
placed on feminine bodies by having her creations flaunt their
interiors boldly.