JAPANESE DOLLS

When does something lifeless become alive?

These dolls have names, personalities, even destinies. They’ve already lived through something — before appearing here. Now, they live together in their own small world, where everything has already happened, which means everything is just beginning.

In traditional Japanese culture, a doll isn’t just an image of a person. It can hold a soul, carry memory — and sometimes protect you from it. Some dolls are made to absorb illness, grief, or fear. Others to safeguard wishes, or remind you of something too important to forget. A doll might live in your place — or in the place of someone who is no longer, or not yet, alive.

I don’t know who they were before they became dolls. But I know who they are now.

They live in a village with no gender, no careers, no money. No clothes “for boys” or “for girls.” No office jobs, no gym memberships. Maybe by your standards they’re still not alive. Or maybe that makes them even more alive than we are.