Surrogati. Un amore ideale

The emotional link between a man and a woman and a synthetic representation of a human: inanimate and hyper-realistic companions, idealized fetish objects, destined to satisfy the desire for family, romantic and erotic love. In the exhibition curated by Melissa Harris at Fondazione Prada, the two American artists Jamie Diamond and Elena Dorfman, explores the vividly and nonjudgmentally of the interactions of humans with their lifelike, inanimate companions.

In her series “Forever Mothers” (2012-2018) and “Nine Months of Reborning” (2014), Jamie Diamond documented the life of an outsider art making community called the Reborners,  a group of self-taught female artists who hand-make, collect and interact with hyper-realistic dolls that fulfill a desire for motherhood. In her other exhibited project titled “I Promise to be a Good Mother” (2007-2012), Diamond played the role of a perfect mother, dressing up in her own mother’s clothes and interacting with Annabelle, a reborn doll

“Still Lovers” (2001-04), a series of photographs that brought Elena Dorfman international acclaim, focuses on the domestic lives of men and women who devote themselves to lifesize, anatomically realistic sex dolls. Her photographs explore the emotional ties between humans and perfectly formed synthetic women, forcing us to evaluate our own notions of love and the value of an object that has the power to replace a human being. The artist’s interest was not to exploit the deviancy of these sexual surrogates, but rather to reveal the fascinating world of intimacy between flesh and silicone.