The subject is the conflation of woman and home. In the previous “Anonymous Women: Draped” photographic series, a lone woman is hidden in a vignette within the drapery, where she performs domestic trickery. The photographs are vignettes of women hidden behind drapes containing one figure and drapery, with an occasional prop or piece of furniture. In this series, “Reconstructed,” the woman becomes part of her domestic trappings and activities. I am creating narrative, full size, still-life images comprised of many objects. “Reconstructed Series” is commentary on obsession with collecting, accumulating designing and decorating, inviting hilarity and pathos about our relationship with “things.” They are installations made in the studio for the camera that play with color, space and scale, and use household objects as subject matter. We are making a life size box in the studio as a substitute for the home. A mannequin substitutes for the woman, who is camouflaged among her domestic objects in the space. The final outcome is a photograph and/or a short video. https://vimeo.com/114394556. The digital prints are 36 x 36 inches.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago provided the basis of all of my work, and I continually seek to come to terms with it. I grew up when suburban life was idealized; the home was a place of perfection and harmony, free from harsh realities of the city, without crime, or messy interiors, where everyone’s drapes and sofa matched, where people were normal, without dark little secrets. It was at time when the “woman’s place was in the home.” I am photographically creating worlds that debunk, critique and satirize these myths of claustrophobic perfection.

All of the work in the “Anonymous Women: Reconstructed” series is constructed in the studio with actual props as well as printed photographs placed in the sets. They are all made for the camera and shot with a Hasselblad Digital camera. The prints are made on an Epson 9900 printer in the studio.