Tiffany Duong

Red Room

Inspired by David Lynch’s 'Twin Peaks,' wherein Barbie adopts the role of Laura Palmer - injecting Laura's darkness into their shared beauty and blondeness.

“I remember when I watched 'Twin Peaks' for the first time. That was before they released the third season, so all I had was that season two cliffhanger and 'Fire Walk With Me.' David Lynch crafted this idyllic suburban town, always hazed with a veil of fog or someone’s cigarette smoke, only to quickly waft it away with Laura Palmer’s lifeless body on the shore. Her blonde hair, coiled up and pretty even in death. An otherwise unassuming small-town-murder-mystery, the inspection into Laura’s death reveals the evil within the human condition - shattering her illusion of beauty, goodness, and idealism. Laura transforms from a victim to a force of darkness, symbolising the rage that comes from a betrayal by the systems/people you thought supported you. Here, Barbie takes on the role of Laura Palmer. Despite not possessing thoughts or a will beyond that of the child who plays with her, I re-contextualize the doll within Laura Palmer’s pop culture iconography as a means of relaying the corruption of one archetype of femininity to another.”