Note: Contains violence and sexual references.

Mariel Clayton takes humorous, erotic, and often disturbing photographs of dolls. Inspired by an encounter in a Tokyo toy shop, her images are staged within miniature rooms, inserting a peculiar mix of bawdiness and ultra-violence into seemingly innocent domestic scenes. The dolls’ fixed smiles and outrageous acts poke fun at consumerism, artificiality, and the ordinariness of suburban life; other scenes are more playful and candid in their depictions of sex. As Clayton states on her website, her work “isn’t for everyone,” but it will keep you looking; every stray wine glass or scrap of bloody plastic flesh has been placed to help tell the story.

Images © Mariel Clayton