Art Exhibition

LIFE AS AN OLD DOLL
A collage inquiry by Robyn Davis.

“I don’t make art to illustrate what I already know, I make art to discover what I don’t yet understand.”  

This intimate series of collages confronts the realities of aging – the physical vulnerabilities, social invisibilities, and existential reckonings that we are confronted with as we age.

“Aging is not for sissies!”

The Work

What began as unconscious repetition became deliberate excavation. Each collage layers vintage imagery with patterned protection, creating portraits of resilience and fragility counterbalanced by the uncanny playfulness of old doll images. The work is unapologetically personal, yet it speaks to universal experiences we often refuse to acknowledge.

The doll holds particular resonance for Robyn. As a child, she spent hours with paper dolls, cutting out and animating figures.  Psychologists suggest that through doll play, children discover the self and their societal roles. Robyn recognizes this same dynamic in her current work: she arranges old dolls to voice her inner world and reconcile herself with ageing.

She’s also drawn to Freud’s concept of the “uncanny”—the unsettling uncertainty dolls can trigger. This mirrors her own vulnerability as an ageing woman whose hidden chronic condition becomes more visible as she ages. “There is no hiding any longer,” she says.

We invite you to consider these assembled figures – their covered heads, their persistent presence, their quiet insistence on being witnessed.

Tuesday 25 November – Sunday 5th January