In my series titled, Anonymous Women: Domestic Demise, I create tableaus for the camera featuring a lone female figure camouflaged in an abundance of domestic possessions commenting on managing a home.
The home is a metaphor for the internal lives of women; their worries, desires and interior dialogue. As we were confined to our homes during the pandemic, the meaning and overwhelming experience of being “at home” became humorous, dreadful, claustrophobic, and challenging.
I have always been interested in a line between reality and fiction, which is a difficult space for photography. This work is the fictional narrative of a single woman in her imaginary home; confined yet overwhelmed by the world both inside and outside. She is both a victim of her obsessions, activities and circumstances as well as the invisible creator of such; both satisfying and problematic, pathetic and humorous. The lone female figure represents people who feel isolated, exhausted, frustrated and generally at wit’s end during these difficult times.
The figure also symbolizes so many women, no matter what culture or background, with roots in consumer culture, where possessions provide continuity, tradition and identity. While humor is prevalent in these narratives, the message behind them has darker implications about the role of women or homemaker in all societies.