Jim McMahon
Believe it or not, this isn’t a real baby—it’s actually a shockingly lifelike doll. So-called reborn dolls, which are handcrafted to look and feel like babies, have flooded Brazilian pop culture recently. Widely circulated social media videos show women taking the hyperrealistic dolls to the park in strollers, celebrating their birthdays with cake and songs, tucking them into bed, and more. The dolls have been available around the world since the 1990s, when people started stripping the paint and hair off store-bought dolls and painstakingly reworking them to be more lifelike. But they’ve become much more popular recently, especially in Brazil. The dolls have been sought by mothers who can’t afford to have children, lawyers who use them for courtroom re-enactments, and, most of all, by collectors who simply love babies. Brazilian newspaper columnists, influencers, and lawmakers have all weighed in on the craze; some see it as a harmless hobby, while others mock adults for playing with dolls. Collector Juliana Drusz Magri (above), of Curitiba, Brazil, says she’s frustrated that she’s judged for her interest. “I think that reborn dolls are an art,” she says, “and art deserves to be appreciated.”