Where fantasy ends and reality begins! - PHOTO

Using real women juxtaposed with Barbie dolls, Altanta-based photographer Sheila Pree Bright aims to explore society's complex relationship with cultural beauty standards. Plastic Bodies, a series of digitally manipulated photographs of multi-ethnic women and dolls, features fascinating images that morph human skin onto a toy figure.Showing 'the fine line that is often drawn between reality and fabrication in American culture,' Mrs Bright's project examines Barbie as a cultural icon, and the way society views beauty and women of color, as well as standards of perfection as they relate to women globally.On display at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia, until December 7, Plastic Bodies is part of a group show titled Posing Beauty in African American Culture.'The series also looks at some of the ways Western Commercialism defines female beauty,' explained Mrs Bright, who graduated from Georgia State University with an MFA in Photography.'Specifically the work uses the history of the Barbie doll to show the impact the doll has on girlsand women of color.'In our increasingly global community, issues of diversity and regional identity have become more important. Western commercialism’s impact is making it difficult for women of diverse backgrounds to achieve self-definition with regards to their own ideas of beauty,' she said.'Moreover, their culture and traditions are lost in a maze of high-tech imagery.'The goal of this series, she added, is to show the impact that media and advertising play in defining beauty for girls and women of color and how Barbie is used in Western culture to encourage one standard of beauty.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az