Valley of Dolls
Ayano Tsukimi is from the small town of Nagoro, Japan. What was once a thriving industrial town became a quiet sleepy village after the local factory shut down.
Tsukimi moved back to Nagoro after an 11 year absence only to find a ghost town where only 37 residents remained. Tsukimi got the idea to make replacement residents with life-sized dolls after she made a scarecrow for her garden.
Ten years later and she has constructed 350 “residents” by hand. Tsukimi says the facial expressions are the hardest part of the making the dolls.
I’m really good at making grandmothers.
Tsukimi likes to place the dolls to blend in with the scenery. She has set up a school, field workers, bus patrons, and fisherman. Tsukimi has no plans to leave her village.
[…] lawns are mowed, and the street lights are on, but nobody’s been home since […]