Welcome to the Dollhaus
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
DOLLHAUS is an autobiographical mixed-media installation by Amelia C. Williams exploring race, beauty, sexuality, power, and self-definition through the reclamation of the "Dolly" archetype. Inspired by a childhood nickname given to Williams by her grandmother, the life-sized moodboard examines the roles, expectations, and performances attached to femininity through large-scale collage, photography, sound, and installation.
White women's faces are obscured with blue tape, challenging inherited beauty standards, while the absence of white male perspectives creates space for alternative narratives.
At the center of the work, the DOLLHAUS becomes a metaphor for Black culture—admired, consumed, and often excluded from the value it creates. The unfinished structure references the rapid transformation of the Hudson Valley and the impact of gentrification on longtime residents and Black communities.
Built around a collaborative photo project with Michael Davis, which reimagines vintage Playboy covers through the lens of Dolly, the installation also incorporates Black artists, muses, collaborators, and cultural influences that have shaped Williams' perspective. A collaborative visual and sound piece created with Atta and Sebastián adds another layer of storytelling and atmosphere to the space while Logan Robinson's behind-the-scenes documentation offers a glimpse into the creation of DOLLHAUS.
Part self-portrait, part cultural commentary, and part celebration, DOLLHAUS centers Black women while embracing visibility, self-definition, and creative exchange.
Michael Davis is a Guyanese-American photographer based in Monticello, New York. Born in Brooklyn, New York and raised just outside of NYC in the historic catskill mountains, Davis’ photographs embody the duality and nuance of life within urban culture juxtaposed to a semi-rural backdrop. Utilizing the art of lifestyle portraiture Davis communicates with audiences through the display of raw imagery and culture. With great admiration for the wonder of spontaneity Davis uses his perspective to capture moments of aggression, honesty, vulnerability, and strength. Imbuing subjects with a sense of heroism and overt power, he draws inspiration from old family photographs and new fashion trends to create colorful compositions of future yesteryears. Davis aims for energetic and immortal imagery that can preserve his culture and community for future generations. He has been a practicing artist since 2009.
Atta is a Sierra Leonean-American artist based in the Hudson Valley. Her work spans sound, image making, and publishing. Check out her Upstate Art Weekend itinerary highlighting the Black artists showing this weekend.
Sebastián is an interdisciplinary artist working across comics, projection mapping, multichannel video/audio installation, live event production, lighting design, sculpture. His work drifts between image, aural, and structural, whether digital and analog, exploring how narratives bend in space and how light, form, and perception quietly rearrange themselves.
Logan Robinson Logan Robinson (he/him) is a poet and photographer from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York. He lives in between the worlds of his ideas, whims, destruction, and rehabilitation — its becoming and its opposition.
