Synthetic ivory

A young girl invites a friend to play with her Barbie house. Sitting on the carpet, they choose dolls, arrange rooms, and conduct conversations inspired by the adult world. Their dialogue blends phrases overheard from real-life women and television with their own imagination, allowing them to role-play adulthood.
Since Barbie’s debut in 1959 by Mattel, she has symbolized an idealized version of femininity. Marketed as a “teenage fashion model,” her first TV commercial depicted elegant white-skinned dolls in a pageant-like setting, accompanied by a song reinforcing the aspiration to "be like Barbie." Created by Ruth Handler, who noticed her daughter assigning adult roles to paper dolls, Barbie filled a market gap. Despite early criticism of her unrealistic body proportions, she became a cultural icon, with millions sold worldwide. Over time, Mattel introduced more diverse dolls, yet Barbie remains closely associated with an unattainable standard of beauty.
In the exhibition Synthetic Ivory, artist Netta Dror revisits childhood play, inviting adults to engage with Barbie once again—this time with awareness. The act of play reveals ingrained societal narratives and the tension between self-perception and Barbie’s idealized image. Some embrace her, others reject her, but all participants approach the experience with a mix of joy and unease.
The exhibition space mirrors this exploration: hovering, mobile-like structures and swirling elements evoke a dynamic interplay of memory and reality. At its center, a dollhouse on a pedestal becomes a shrine, inviting visitors to reconnect with their childhood perspectives and reflect on Barbie’s influence on their own narratives.