‘It helps with loneliness’: grief, play and the power of lifelike dolls - photo essay

Dolls that look like real babies – complete with tiny veins and folds of skin – can be endearing yet deeply unsettling. In the Netherlands, however, there are tens of thousands of ‘reborn’ doll enthusiasts “It’s a doll,” Ineke Schmelter, 71, often says as she walks down the street with a pram and someone peers fondly under the hood, asking: “How old is the baby?” Then she pulls back the blanket and reveals the doll. She points out the craftsmanship – the little veins, the creases in the skin ...

By Marije Veerman. Photographs by Annabel Oosteweeghel