Top Dolly

Keelan’s sculpture confronts age and decay, focusing on a traditionally female perspective with her assumption of the doll — and the deeper psychological profile and momentary assumption (and subsequent loss) of youth embedded within it. ‘Top Dolly’ is a particularly gravity-defying piece, the doll seemingly having been spiked and sunken into a surface. The scuffed and scratched surface of the form alludes to wood, but is carefully realised and stained ceramic — the decaying texture simultaneously signalling a breaking down from user wear and significant passage of time. Semi-grotesque, the playful aspect is undercut with an unholy presence that can’t help but capitulate to notions of death.