Birdies Dolls

One of the greatest disappointments I have with myself is with Birdies Dolls. It was in 2017 and I was still working for New York Life when I entered this little store off Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake. This was before I started my current project of finding little stores and abandoned places, and finding their stories. This was the “seed” of that journey.

Birdies as it stands now. No one who hadn’t known the store before wouldn’t guess what used to be here.

I met with Birdie twice. Once to do an “interview” with her via my cell phone. That recording is below. Then I came back and photographed a Saturday workshop she held for people who had dolls and wanted to repair them, or create new ones. She was a very considerate and helpful as she interacted with her students.

In doing the interview she shared how, like so many businesses, the “art” of creating a doll was now something that was mass produced overseas. Less art, more dollars for distributors. I could “feel her pain” to quote from a former President, that this had happened, albeit in a slightly different fashion, to my profession of photography.

The store sits vacant now. Birdie has passed away. Soon it’ll probably be demolished to make way for some commercial enterprise, like a storage facility. I started this by saying that one of the greatest disappointments I have with myself is with Birdies Dolls. This was a story I should have told earlier. My sincere hope is that Birdie, in whatever heaven doll artists reside in, knows that I’ve finally told her story.

When I look at these dolls, I always think of something like a Twilight Zone episode where, when the shop is closed they all come to life. They’re that realistic.