AA2A Residency 2024/25
A Study of the Abandoned Doll
The works below were created during my AA2A artist residency in the academic year of 2024/25, exploring the plight of the abandoned doll. Click the images to expand, or go to the blog post to read about them.
Arrested Development
30cm x 40cm - Mixed Media on Artboard
This mixed media work was created using gel plate mono-printing techniques over collage and image transfer, depicting two old discarded dolls with missing limbs, against the peeling layers of wallpaper.
There is a strong sense of loss and longing conveyed here that speaks to our shared sense of childhood memory and things we are forced to leave behind.
Allostatic Overload
30cm x 40cm - Mixed Media on Artboard
Created using gel plate mono-printing techniques and painting, over collage and image transfer. The title of this work is a clinical term describing the effect of emotional experiences on the physical body.
Dolls serve as vessels for emotional expression of all varieties and, like children, are often treated accordingly. This work alludes to the emotional stress caused by the complications of growing up in a turbulent and unpredictable environment.
Figment - An Imaginary Friend
40cm x 50cm - Mixed Media on Canvasboard
Created in gouache over collage and image transfer, this work is a depiction of a haunting or a visitation of an imaginary friend embodied in the inanimate form of a doll.
The background showing peeling wallpaper revealing old and damaged plaster beneath, alludes to the derelict and abandoned family home, where entities, real or imagined might linger.
Splinter
40cm x 50cm - Mixed Media on Canvasboard
In this work, there is a deliberate ambiguity to the doll's position and therefore asks a question of the viewer, 'is this doll a peaceful baby asleep, or is it crying in distress. The sharp needle-like marks that rain down, imply the latter yet the soft muted flesh tones and floral print wallpaper fragments, speak of something related to displacement or a loss of home.
Playthings
91cm x 121cm - Acrylic on Canvas
This large-scale acrylic on canvas was a labour of love and worth every hour in the making of it as it was longlisted for the Women In Art Prize in 2025.
It serves as the culmination of all of the works above, bringing together an array of familiar looking dolls from our shared histories, evoking many stories and stimulating some very deep, emotionally layered conversations, when it was exhibited at the end-of-year group show, 'Threads of Expression' in Chester City Centre.
Christine Gallagher Artist
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