Robert Frankle

This work consists of two series of portraits of aging stuffed animals along with brief, succinct biographies. The first series, Fantasy, contains biographies reflecting a young boy's imagination. The biographies convey an idea of his fantasy stories concerning the animals through which glimpses his real life can be discerned. The second series, Reality, contains biographies of the "real life" of the stuffed animals, also from the boy's point of view, which may contain as well an aspect of imagination.

Sometimes the biographies are comical. At other times, they contain a tragic aspect. Through the stories of the stuffed animals, a larger fantasy story can be perceived and the biography of a child, from his point of view and in his imagination is revealed. The texts, however, are written in an adult style in order to better convey the richness of the underlying stories.

Though each series function independently, together they engage in a dialogue between fantasy and reality, each one containing elements of both, though in different ways.

A further set of images in this series was created in 2015:  Teddy (2015)