Sarah Doherty

Always thinking. Always dreaming.

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2. Holly, My Velveteen Rabbit

   • Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 6:43 PM
   • | IN: Flickr, Personal
   • | 0 Comments

   I’ve been having a lot of fun as of lately playing around with the macro option on my digital.  It’s not a fancy SLR camera at all (Canon PowerShot SD600) but it does a great job of taking captivating photos. The power of macro has allowed me to alter my visual perception of an item.  I thought it would be interesting to take some photos of Holly who has been my rag doll since birth.  

   

   I think every child has some attachment to a stuffed animal, blanket or toy.  These objects normally get so tattered and worn that it is either trashed or replaced.  Somehow Holly has made it past all this.  Supposedly I got Holly as a gift when I was born.  I have no idea why I became so attached to her - looking at the photos I took reveals how hideous of a doll she really is.  

   Despite her appearance I found her beautiful. Holly came and experienced everything with me.  As a child I was obsessed with band-aids so I always made sure Holly had a few boo-boo’s until my mom got upset with the amount of wasted band-aids.  In elementary school my mom had bought a gorgeous cross necklace for me - I too decided, that Holly should wear a religious pendant around her neck. And embarrassingly enough she came to college with me as a form of academic motivation and solace for being out on my own. 

   As a child I believed that Holly was the Velveteen Rabbit and would one day become real if I loved her enough. By now, I realize this isn’t true.  Despite living a world where we drop our childhood treasures in exchange for “adulthood” and the notion of being “cool”, I have held onto Holly.  To me she is not a doll, but my childhood history.  And most of all she holds with the countless hours my grandma (now deceased) and mother’s spent repairing her tattered “skin”.  And I hope one day I can share her with my children and pass down this story.

        

   You can view the rest of the Flickr set here.

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