Tanya's Dols come to life

Aren't they just a pair of lil delinquents? If you had to wear a basic, blah uniform to school, I'm sure you'll appreciate those uber-flashy bangles & earrings. Ditto for the searing colour combos on the blouses & skirts!

The Delinquents are just two of the many Dols that have coyly ambled up from the imagination - and observations, I'm sure - of the extremely talented Trinidadian Artist & Illustrator Tanya Williams.

These coquettish and capricious Dols, with their over-animated eyes and cocked heads, are masters of eliciting an 'awww - so cute!' from their admirers. Right along with those furtive, shame faced looks that say, "Uh, these little girls make me feel rather naughty."

And knowing the artist, I think she'd have it no other way; when we'd spend entire school periods lolling away in the decrepit Art room at Woodbrook Sec., I would sketch away all sorts of crazy things, whilst Tanya worked on 'serious' pieces, like a pre, pre 'Dols' version of a school girl meeting her sexual fate, "Under the Sycamore Tree."

It's only funny if you're familiar with the dutty, raunchy Lady Saw tune of the same name... Anyways, years after the fact, Williams has created these cutesy Dols whose sticky-sweet patina covers up deep, dark hurts whilst making you think long & hard. Now really, why are those Delinquents out of school? Why are they looking so coy - are they on the prowl? And for what?

Some pieces are just plain thought provoking. The 'Mistress Dols' - aka young women who've been forced into adulthood before they're good and ready - look like they've had one too many a drink. And yet others are simply brilliantly executed pieces of art; the 'Hindu Princess' series, for example, combines elements of Bollywood with graphical renderings.

The vests you see above boast a few of Tanya's illustrations, and should go on sale (I hope!) within weeks, according to her blog. Check it out for more pieces, and for the back stories on the Dols.

L.M.N. Harris.

N.B. Images are the property of, and copyrighted by, Tanya Williams. (c) 2008