Doll For Petra

Cathie Pilkington has created a new body of work in response to the museum's major Eric Gill exhibition running concurrently. Doll for Petra is a powerful sculptural response to a carved wooden doll made by Eric Gill for his daughter Petra from the museum's collection.

Cathie’s feelings towards it are shown through her unsettling expressions of the female form, which give voice to her ambivalence towards the doll in the context of Gill’s abuse of Petra. Within a cabinet full of Pilkington's sculpted dolls and figures, Doll for Petra invites viewers to stand back and explore their own reactions to this simple carved doll which is potent with stories, meaning and history.