Alice Marie Perreault
Buddy
Graphite, Prismacolor, Acrylic on Paper; A drawing series began in 2014; Each Drawing is 22” x 26. The current count in the Buddy collection is greater than 30. The drawings are extrapolated from a medical doll I used with my son at Primary Children’s Medical Center in SLC, Utah. Source Buddy (the original medical doll) is made of cotton fabric stuffed and sewn by volunteers. Source Buddy became a bedside project where I embroidered my son’s portrait on the doll during long hospital stays.
Buddy is thus, a medical tool that begins blank becomes individualized- a modern day voodoo without the mysticism. What happens to Buddy will happen to the child that was given Buddy, so Buddy becomes the child’s surrogate- at least momentarily. When the child is taken to the operating room, Buddy is handed to the parent(s) and thus Buddy becomes their surrogate. Adults are more likely to receive Buddy in a different light than the children who find comfort in Buddy who has the power to objectify pain and process.
Buddy is thus, a medical tool that begins blank becomes individualized- a modern day voodoo without the mysticism. What happens to Buddy will happen to the child that was given Buddy, so Buddy becomes the child’s surrogate- at least momentarily. When the child is taken to the operating room, Buddy is handed to the parent(s) and thus Buddy becomes their surrogate. Adults are more likely to receive Buddy in a different light than the children who find comfort in Buddy who has the power to objectify pain and process.
|
