Margaret Roleke
Religious Toys, 2016
lightbox; lenticular and painted toys on wood structure
16 x 9 x 8 inches
 
Religious Toys is a wall relief and lightbox that examines the parallel commodification of childhood and belief. Off-white painted McDonald's Happy Meal toys protrude from an oval wooden form, their playful origins stripped of color and nostalgia. The piece emits light from within, glowing through circular cutouts covered in religious lenticular images, while lenticular material also wraps the side of the oval. As the imagery shifts with the viewer's movement, the work evokes devotion, spectacle, and desire. By merging toys and religious iconography, Religious Toys critiques how both innocence and faith are packaged, marketed, and consumed.