Mariel Clayton

Clayton isn't an ordinary portrait photographer. She specializes in miniature toy photography which is virtually unheard of. Known for her dark sense of humor, Clayton recreates the dark side of western society through use of barbie dolls and Tokyo toys. Her images often reflect crimes of passion,sex, and violent fighting. Not exactly what you would expect Barbie to be doing.

The above photo shows Barbie and Ken after a domestic dispute. I'm going to go out on a limb here and make up my own story as to what happen. It looks like Ken got a bit too drunk off of his bottle of jack and beat the hell out of Barbie with a rolling pin. Barbie was too busy baking muffins to notice the stumbling Ken to be prepared to the attack. instead she now sits around her spilled muffins, bleeding from the knee and crying while Ken looks through the fridge for some "after abuse" munchies. 

All joking aside, this is a pretty intense sense. Replace the dolls with actual human and you have one hell of a dramatic scene. Clayton also uses a direct spotlight on her Barbie scene which makes it even more dramatic and somewhat sad. Her attention to detail ans storytelling is what makes this photo work.