Anonymous Women: Draped
At first sight Patty Carroll’s faceless portraits appear to be a colorful variation on the themes of ludic role-plays and domestic decor, literally enveloping the subjects in a never ending flow of patterned textiles.
On a closer look however Carroll’s thoughtfully choreographed photographs conjure up other familiar images — the habit of a nun, the burka, or a type of urban camouflage —, while her powerful evocation of overloaded interiors challenges the idea of home as a sanctuary, a haven of individual freedom. If Carroll’s often witty or ironic use of accessories associated with the idea of home and comfort, inject an effective dose of subversion in her symbolic representations, her images also confront the viewer with questions of feminine identity and the nature and expressions of a double-edged domesticity.
It is precisely in this constant tension — between the sensuality of the textiles and the claustrophobic sensation that emanates from their display, between the harmony of the compositions and the obsessive longing for perfection —, that Carroll’s ‘Anonymous Women: Draped’ continue to intrigue and seduce us.
Sample Photos
Contributors
Photographer
Patty Carroll’s work is in the collections of major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the California Museum of Photography, Riverside; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Her series ‘Anonymous Women: Draped’ has been exhibited at Shanghai University and Beijing’s White Box Museum, as well as in galleries in Italy and in the US. Carroll earned a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and an MS at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, where she studied under Aaron Siskind, Arthur Siegel, and Garry Winogrand. Once in charge of the Documentary concentration at Chicago’s Institute of Design, she has also taught at Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy; the Royal College of Art, London, England; the Aegean School of Fine Arts, Paros, Greece. Today she lives and works in Chicago, and serves on faculties of both the School of the Art Institute and Columbia College Chicago.
Preliminary Specifications
(archival pigment prints, mounted and framed):
20 – 30 color photographs
Size: 28/32 x 38 inches / 71.1/81.3 x 96.5 cm
36/40 x 48 inches / 91.4/101.6 x 121.9 cm
Space Requirements:
approx. 150 — 200 running feet
/ 45 — 60 running meter
Security: Limited
Participation Fee: Upon Request
Tour
Available from January 2015
Educational Program
Guided tours of the exhibition with Patty Carroll, for all age groups.