Alice Hawkins has never photographed her idol, Dolly Parton, but she has photographed many Dollys.
One Dolly is on horseback, red heels in stirrups and blonde curls piled high on her head. In another image, two Dollys link their arms around each other’s waists, fingers fanning out with long acrylic nails. Elsewhere, another Dolly — Hawkins herself — dons a crisp white skirt suit to pose outside of the small chapel in Dollywood, the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee-amusement park owned by the Queen of Nashville herself.
Hawkins is a British photographer, born more than 4,300 miles from Memphis, where Parton broke into the music industry. But she’s spent the past decade-plus dressing up as the singer, making multiple series about her own sense of self — and that of other Dolly superfans — through the glittering facet of Parton’s image.