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Harriet Hughes lives and works in Gloucestershire’s rural creative scene. Using a diverse range of mediums, she explores production and labour using dolls as her primary image. By using the pasts advertisement narratives, beauty standards and gender roles, now seen as absurd, she satirises how the perception of self is continually exploited in order to produce profit. Hughes was born in Milton Keynes and studied at Hereford College of Arts. In 2021 her work was shown as part of the Tate Collective’s digital display at the opening of Tate Britain’s ‘Life Between Islands’ show. Hughes is currently in residence at The Wilson Museum and Gallery and has been part of many projects including Hundred Heroines: Women in Photography Today, GAS projects, and SITE festival.

“ Dolls are fascinating objects. They serve as vessels which reflect our ideals throughout history - acting as mirrors they evoke an uncanny feeling for most. In my work, I use dolls as stand-ins for real people (primarily women) as they cannot be visually commodified in the same way. My practice focuses on mass-manufactured products which are often labelled kitsch, relieving the objects of any negative associations of labour practices. It is common for the manufacturing process to involve intensive and exploitative labour, cause environmental harm and be unfit for function. Once produced, these objects are advertised in manipulative ways to the consumer, shaping consumers ideology through media messaging. I ask viewers to reconsider their relationship to their belongings. ”