This is part of a long term project I've been shooting in Sooke, British Columbia. The Purgatory Garden consists of five acres of rainforest, the property of Jan and Mary Johnson. Jan is a metal sculptor, but he also collects dolls... and keeps them outside. In the forest. Some have been out there for more than 30 years... it doesn't take long for some serious deterioration to occur.
For me, the whole question is symbolic. A doll is symbolically a child; therefore abused and neglected dolls are symbolically our abused and neglected children. But there are many other interpretations possible. Sometimes it feels as if these modern icons are trying to return to nature - but they're made of plastic, they don't belong. And so on. They are whatever you read into them; whatever you want or need them to be.
Scanned from the original Fujichrome Velvia slide, November 1993.
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Tags: doll face haunting eyes scary sad portrait abandoned discarded melted damaged Purgatory Garden Sooke Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada creepy spooky
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Alternate title for this one is "Snapper"... another installation from the Purgatory Garden in Sooke, British Columbia. The late, great sculptor Jan Johnson assembled hundreds of dolls and assorted junk covering five acres of rainforest surrounding his house. Piles of rusting bicycles, old TV sets, bottles, framed paintings nailed to trees... plenty of humour in the mix, albeit the dark kind. I spent many an hour roaming there with my camera. Jan was my friend and I was always made welcome. It was a great privilege.
Scanned from the original Fujichrome Velvia slide, January 1994.
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© James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: doll toilet funny dark humor humour ferns leaves forest installation art Jan Johnson Purgatory Garden Sooke Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
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Here I sandwiched two slides, one in focus and one out of focus, to add a touch of the surreal to an already strange scenario. The Pacific coastal forests have always felt cathedral-like to me. They are so majestic, yet so quiet. Here, in Jan Johnson's Purgatory Garden (see next image for explanation), two dolls reach upward, a wood cross behind... and I thought, "This must be the church of the dolls." But of course it is whatever you want it to be...
Scanned from the original Fujichrome Velvia slide, February 1999.
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Tags: dolls forest Orton effect rainforest ferns trees cross spooky strange Purgatory Garden Sooke Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
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By now perhaps you realize that today's upload is being handled by wild prairie man's evil twin? Well... we are multi-faceted beings, aren't we? This is the dark side. Seedy Santa resides in the Purgatory Garden, Sooke, British Columbia, and since I made this photo has crumbled into an unrecognizable blob. That's what happens when you leave stuff outside in coastal British Columbia, with its temperate rain forest climate. The entire installation was the work of sculptor Jan Johnson.
This is a true Orton image: two slides, one in focus and one stop overexposed, the other out of focus and two stops overexposed, sandwiched into the same mount and scanned. Fujichrome Velvia, January 1999.
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© James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: doll Santa art installation Jan Johnson Orton image vertical slide sandwich Purgatory Garden Sooke Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
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Reason #5 why I love BC: weirdness. Here's another glimpse of the Purgatory Garden in Sooke. The doll installations cover 5 acres of rainforest, and are the inspiration of the late Jan Johnson, sculptor extraordinaire. In most places only a tiny bit of insanity is permitted, but in BC you can be as strange as you want, and Sooke has the reputation of being on the extreme, cutting edge... of... something...
This is a true Orton image: two slides, one in focus and the other out of focus, sandwiched into the same mount and scanned. Fujichrome Velvia, June 1999.
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: dolls art installation Jan Johnson Purgatory Garden Sooke Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
© All Rights Reserved