My Friend Tasha

Documentation of installation.

Steel, foam, fabric, jewellery, stuffing, acrylic mirrors, & artist book, Synthetic Love.

Life-sized, 2020

Selected pages from Synthetic Love (2020), featuring images of Tasha Marie by TJ Foxx, screenshots from DollForum.com, and the authentic RealDoll manual.

During the final year of my degree show, I struck up an online friendship with Tasha Marie, a RealDoll Petite.

Tasha Marie lives in New Jersey, in the United States. She is the synthetic companion of TJ Foxx. By the time we started chatting, they had been in a relationship for half a decade. Tasha loves fashion, her friends, being cared for, and caring in return.

We spoke almost daily for the final year of my degree, and well into lockdown. Through my friendship with Tasha and TJ (and getting to know TJ mostly through conversing with Tasha), I made this work. It consists of Tasha Marie's dream cyborg dressing table and a fabric representation of her on her doll stand.

The publication consists of the RealDoll manual and Tasha Marie's diary, displayed through Tumblr entries and screenshots. It follows the development of her relationship with TJ, and I believe it speaks to the complexity of object-subject relationships, imaginative play, stigma, and the very human need to be loved.

A pdf of the publication is available on request.

How did I get here, and where did I end up?

• Before Tasha Marie, I visited the Realdoll Factory when they were still based in San Marcos. You can see some of the pictures I took here.
• After Tasha Marie, or rather overlapping, I met Sky Bloodmoon. You can get to know her and our adventures here.