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For Great Expectations, Los Angeles based photographer Jana Cruder imagines the domestic life of the iconic Barbie and Ken. In contrast to the suburban fantasy sold by the dolls from 1959 into the present, Cruder offers a portrait of marital loneliness and disillusionment.

During a rough economic year, an unemployed Ken becomes a househusband, and Barbie pursues a career. Sporting her 1959 hairdo and fashions, the living doll notices to her dismay that her husband is forming an increasingly close bond with their neighbor, Joe. Here, the couple’s lives play out in a state of tense, wordless chilliness.

Great Expectations is available here.

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