Maria Coletsis


	Maria Coletsis Richmond, British Columbia
		Listen to this artist. (AU 80K)

My first paper doll was given to me by my mother when I was five years old .

The experience of changing the doll's identity simply by changing the dress has provoked my investigation into female roles. By using the paper doll form I examine the complexities of societies' layered interpretations versus self expression of feminine identities. I use historical and traditional archetypes, incorporating them within the photographs and dress designs. The paper doll's dresses portray the interchangeable identities ( wife, mother, beauty queen, career woman, nurturer, seductress, healer, homemaker) and act as a vehicle to communicate these diverse roles. Images from my childhood memories have provided these examples from which I am now drawing from and re-constructing definitions for.