Anonymous Women: Draped is about becoming the dwelling itself. The domestic interior of the home is a place of comfort but can also be camouflage for individual identity when decor becomes an obsession, idealization, or indication of position or status. “Staying home” is a state that some women also aspire to as a place of power, while others abhor because of its prison-like atmosphere. In all cases, women need “ A room of their own.” The images reference draped statues from the Renaissance and ancient Greece, nuns in habits, women wearing the burka, the Virgin Mary, priests and judges’ robes.
This project began while living for a period of time in England. My identity in that society was determined by my outward, domestic situation. Although in the USA, I had a professional career, and was solidly known as an independent woman, I soon found that in a more traditional culture than the United States, one’s domestic status often eclipses one’s professional or personal sense of self. Making photographs of stark heads hiding behind various domestic objects were my initial response to this predicament.
The drapery work was made in America, starting when the war with Iraq was building. It is a project, among others that continues off and on. Issues of vulnerability, trust, safety, courage and absurdity weighed heavily on my mind then, and continue to linger daily. I think about the women who encounter real wars, internal conflicts, domestic abuse, and other threats - real or imagined. I also laugh at myself and other women, when we lose perspective and become possessed by our perfect material goods.