At the dawn of all the cultures of the world, in addition to weapons and tools, primeval man created the figurine – a figuration of the deity but also of himself, serving multiple functions: he made vicarious sacrificial offerings of it in magic rites, among other uses.

That alter ego of man became, over time, his portrait, the first object of art and play.

This is the origin of the figurine – the doll – the companion of man and his fortunes from childhood to the grave. Poor and rich, primitive and those with sophisticated ‘personality’ features, naked and dressed according to their owners’ wealth,  dolls share their lives and deaths, bear the stigmata of time, of wear and tear, and also of their little owners’ cruelty.

Sometimes, passed on from generation to generation, they have embellished beds, children’s prams or their cute nurseries.

They have become the most universal symbol of man.

For years, along with other forms of my creative work, I have been ‘building’, under the symbolic shelter of bell jars, ‘small worlds’ – metaphoric scenes, a kind of doll theatre. I just find these dolls and other objects, or buy them in flea markets and from antique dealers; some I have received from my friends, in various states of preservation.

When creating these small worlds, I feel like I am the playwright, director and set designer in these stagings. I salvage these dolls after they have had their share of ‘being played’ and give them a new life, a chance to play instead. They symbolically convey the truth about the condition, the comedy and tragedy of human life.