Everything we experience in our childhood is ingrained into our psyche forever. Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan did most of his research into this psychological process, which Sigmund Freud had already highlighted as crucial.
The barred other implied someone who had overcome the father’s rule in order to position himself in front of it. This term denotes the obvious pretense of thinking childhood is pure innocence, without taking into account that our potential psyche is already dictating our future selves.
Our impending depravity has been planted since then. It’s evident from how we play with dolls or other toys.
Claus Lucas, née Dongwook Lee, is a photographer originally from the city of Daejeon, South Korea. Through Barbie dolls placed in different settings, the present series explores the artificial nature of our relationship with highly sexualized situations.
None of these dolls has a particular gender or sexual identity, so they can be manipulated and portrayed in numerous activities without being disturbing. After all, it’s just a doll.
Yet, if that statement is true, why does each doll still appear strange while causing us a certain cringe or aversion?
These photographs prove the bizarre nature of how we represent our own bodies. Our corporeality is our own measure of reality. The doll representation has a unique way of capturing how fictionalized our persona has become.
These macabre poses are those that children play with during their formative years. The fact that Barbie dolls lack sexual organs should be stranger than whichever activity they are made to do.
An alien who only knew of the human race through these plastic theatrics would think human beings would all have smooth pink skin and the species’ limbs would be removable parts. Through this perspective, the cute humanoid toys take on a grotesque perspective.
The series is titled Sense of Guilt, in relation to the shame echoing the anxiety that appears after doing certain sexual acts. This guilt shows up regardless of whether society deems them as acceptable or unacceptable.
These pictures generate a bizarre sensation, not unlike watching a film by David Lynch. After seeing our actions portrayed by plastic figures, we then realize they represent our image to the world.
Claus Lucas’ work has been exhibited in galleries in South Korea, Italy, Bulgaria, the US, Japan, and London.
Other artists have captured the perverse games we play behind close doors. One couple photographed Japan’s fetishes while another illustrator showed perverse practices with evil figures.
Translated by María Suárez
