Emotional Substitutes in Modern and Contemporary Art: the Affective Power of the Inanimate
Abstract
This article examines the affective role of inanimate figures in modern and contemporary art through the concept of the emotional substitute: an object that functions as a relational stand-in for absent, lost, or unattainable bodies. Focusing on dolls, mannequins, prostheses, and constructed doubles, it analyses how such figures operate not merely as representations, but as affective interlocutors embedded in artists’ emotional and imaginative lives. Through a comparative reading of selected case studies, the article identifies recurring functions of emotional substitution and situates them within broader debates in visual culture, affect theory, and material imagination.
KEYWORDS: Emotional substitution; dolls and mannequins; visual culture; affect theory; trauma and memory.
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