Cradling Hyper-Realistic Babies In Uncanny Valley

“What you lose as you age are witnesses, the ones that watched from early on and cared,” wrote John Updike.

But what if your existence is anchored constancy, where the watchers and watched over are rendered static, unchanging icons?

Jamie Diamond takes us into the Reborner community:

In “Mother Love,” I collaborated with 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. Working with the community allowed me to explore the grey area between reality and artifice where relationships are constructed with inanimate objects, between human and doll, artist and artwork, uncanny and real…

Nine Months of Reborning documents my introduction to the community and the making of my first nine dolls, as well as the working nursery I established in my studio and on eBay, called the Bitten Apple Nursery.

“Adopting” a reborn doll on eBay can set you back $5000.

More info: Jamie Diamond (h/t: flashbak)