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Dioramas Spotlight the Hidden Darkness of Childhood

Dwora Fried's dioramas are nothing like your 4th grade science fair projects.
All images courtesy Shoebox PR

Toys and other childhood artifacts are often designed to be as innocent and carefree as the small people they’re intended for. But anyone who’s ever seen a horror film or an episode of the Twilight Zone knows that childhood and its artifacts can have hidden depths that reveal something darker than the happy-go-lucky wonderland that we imagine childhood to be.

Vienna-born, L.A.-based artist Dwora Fried’s work refuses to put aside childish things, and instead mines them for new meaning with the dioramas in her exhibition BIG BOX little box, which opens at the Los Angeles Art Association on January 16th. Fried’s work uses collage and vintage figurines to stage childhood scenes from her perspective as a Jewish-Austrian lesbian, growing up as the child of Holocaust survivors. And in addition to the miniatures, Fried has constructed a life-size replica of one of her dioramas for visitors to her show to interact with.

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BIG BOX little box will run from January 16th to February 19th. For more information on Dwora Fried’s work, click here.

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