Pink, the colour of flesh, is closely associated with the body and can be pleasurable, romantic, and erotic, or painful, vulgar, and obscene. It is the colour of sunrise and sunset, roses and cherry blossoms, and the blush on a child’s cheeks: symbols of beauty and transience. Pink is considered feminine and is the preferred colour for girls’ toys and accessories, with toy stores displaying entire aisles of shelves laden with pink.

The pink toys collected for this project were created as accessories to children’s fantasies and imaginative play, dress-ups and parties. Their role extends beyond ornament and artifice, becoming a powerful accoutrement to the enchanting, transitory and impressionable childhood world. Chosen for their references to femininity, cuteness and sweetness, these talismanic objects celebrate pink-and-pretty girlie-girl culture; a culture that presents femininity as positive and desirable for young girls. However, like all the best fairy tales, the toys in Pink may also be cautionary, if we consider their monochromatic, one-dimensional and typecast representation of femininity.