CHLOE

The babushkas (Russian nesting dolls) in “It Hurts to Say Goodbye” were hand sewn and embroidered with embroidery floss, thread, stuffing, and muslin fabric. When I was little my grandparents gave my sister and I different toys to play with, one of which was a russian nesting doll (or a babushka as we liked to call it). I wanted to take the concept of the russian nesting dolls and create a stuffed form instead of the typical carved wood. While there have been stuffed animals or pin cushions that are in the shape of babushkas, I have never encountered one that could be taken apart like the hollow ones made of wood. This is most likely because with fabric, you would have to destroy the doll to reach the next one, and the next one, etc. I wanted to play with this idea of something that is temporary in which once one layer has been shredded, it cannot be replaced.