Patty Caroll’s Saturated Portraits

With many references to both cultural and historical costumes, Patty Carroll‘s series speaks about experiencing the dichotomy of domesticity. Known for her use of highly intense, saturated color photographs since the 1970’s, Patty Carroll comes back with ‘Anonymous Women’, a project addressing women and their complicated relationships with domesticity. “The home is a place of comfort but can also be camouflage for individual identity when idealized decor becomes an obsession, or indication of position or status,” says Carroll. The series is full of references to draped statues from the Renaissance, nuns in habits, women wearing the burka, and priests’ and judges’ robes, among others. By camouflaging the figure in drapery and/or domestic objects, Carroll creates a dark and humorous game of hide-and-seek between her viewers and the Anonymous Woman. She says: “The series is also a small tribute to Scarlett O’Hara, who, undaunted by wars, pulled down her drapery to fashion a beautiful gown, and would do anything to keep her home, Tara.”

All images © Patty Carroll