Two artists in Argentina have come under fire after creating Barbie dolls depicting Christ and a number of Catholic saints. The creation of the dolls – which has not been endorsed by makers Mattel – has prompted an online backlash, and a wealth of media attention. Many have taken to social media describing the Barbies as blasphemous.
“Seeking fame in an infamous way, what a disappointment” and “Respect the Sacred faith!” were just two of many responses. Made by Emiliano Pool Paolini and Marianela Perell, the Barbies have appeared in at least one toy shop.
The couple even gave a doll to the Pope; Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Barbie. The artists created 33 dolls depicting people from various religions, including the Satanic figure Baphomet, as part of an art project titled “Plastic Religion”.
They initially began the collection in 2014, ahead of an exhibition in 2015 that led to international condemnation. The couple say their work is being “misunderstood”. But they have expanded the collection to coincide with the recent arrival of the Barbie film, directed by Greta Gerwig.
However, the duo’s artistic representation of the Catholic figures drew the ire of faithful followers as violent menaces rained down on Paolini and Perelli.
‘We receive threats from various parts of the world. It’s crazy,’ Paolini was quoted at the time. ‘They’ve misinterpreted our work.’ The pair’s work is inspired by lowbrow art, an underground visual movement that was born in Los Angeles in the late 1970s.
The duo figured they were not doing anything disrespectful because, according to Paolini, ‘religion always represented the virgins with the women who were the most beautiful.’
It’s believed that with the arrival of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ movie, Paolini and Perelli sought to take advantage of the film’s global popularity and reintroduce their exhibition.
Last week, the artists introduced a Barbie doll modeled after the Medal of Our Lady of Graces, which comes with a Barbie comic book. Over the weekend, Paolini posted a selfie prior to mailing out a package with Barbie and Ken dolls that symbolized Joan of Arc and Krishna, respectively.
‘We’re partying,’ he wrote. ‘ First time we sell work on #Africa … Now we complete (sales in) all continents!!!’ During an interview with panelists on Argentine news network TN Noticias, one of the guests accused Paolini and Perelli of using their work to disrespect Our Lady of Luján.
‘For the faithful, the Virgin of Luján is the patron saint of Argentines and devotion is very high … this can be taken as an offense,’ Sergio Rubin said.
‘It is a manipulation of a sacred symbol for millions of Argentines and so far the church of Lujan has not ruled on it,’ he added. However, many of the duo’s 12.9 followers on Instagram peppered them comments, asking for prices and where they could get purchase the dolls.
