In New Jersey artist's exhibit, dolls help spark conversations about culture and identity
A South Jersey artist is using dolls to address culture and identity in a one-of-a-kind exhibit at the Hunterdon Art Museum.
This is Kimberly Camp's inspiration for her exhibit, "Cross River: A Parallel Universe."
"What does it mean to be Black in America?" asked Camp. It's a complicated question the renowned artist is always asked.
With 40 years of doll-making experience under her belt, she uses this form of art to address those tough conversations.
A handful of "Kimkins" dolls hang on the walls of her latest exhibit.
This was the first type of doll Camp made.
"With them came a catalog and map of the continent and each country. I wanted people to understand African is not a synonym for Black," Camp said.
Camp points out her favorite doll she calls Honey Child. It's dressed in illustrations from the book "The Little Black Sambo."
"The images were vulgarized over a period," Camp said. She then points to the text "race to create race."
Camp explains how unnatural it is to try to identify people based on skin color. She says it's nonsensical if anything.
Honey Child is one of the camp's animal anthropomorphism dolls. It's one of three themes on display throughout her show. The other two are Blackness and inhabitants.
Camp is an artist at first, but she's spent most of her life in prominent roles at major museums like the Smithsonian Institution and the Barnes Foundation here in Philadelphia.
Now, as a retiree, she spends hours inside her quaint Collingswood art gallery, "Galerie Marie," creating one-of-a-kind dolls.
Most of her dolls are adorned with historical artifacts like a 400-year-old trade bead that was used in exchange for slaves.
Her work is made up of her lifelong curiosity of defining Blackness. Her creations are complicated and layered with emotional meaning, but some are playful.
As a leading curator and artist, Camp proves dolls are fine art and a look back on history.
