artist statement
 
 
 
 
artist statement
  

The Invisibles, is a photographic series of tiny model train figures going about their daily life. The series is about the middle class society of tiny people living and working in a much larger world of human beings. They do the little jobs that go unnoticed or are misunderstood, such as jobs involving technology. People just see the completed work, not understanding how it works and assume it is magic.

Growing up I wanted to be just like Nancy Drew. When I read her books I would imagine I was Nancy going on exciting adventures and solving mysteries. I could not wait to grow up and be independent. My life took an unexpected detour when I met the man who would become my husband in my first class of my first day of college.

Introspective Mysteries addresses my struggles with being out of place and no longer feeling independent. As a young newlywed, I have encountered confusion in my new roles and what the title of wife really implies. I use images of Nancy Drew from the 1930's to represent the mix of emotions I feel about my new role as wife, and where I fit into this new life.

Nancy Drew was a liberated woman for her generation in the 1930's. She lived by her own rules, conforming to societies expectations only when it benefited her. By removing Nancy from the context of the books, she becomes the stereotype of a woman from that time, the good wife and homemaker. Domesticity has become her new mystery.

I photograph domestic scenes in dollhouses and from actual places in my life. By combining the miniature with real scenes, the viewer begins to question what is real and what is simply a constructed setting. My photographs and the scanned Nancy Drew figures are digitally combined to create new images. The titles come from lines inside the original books. They are clues about the images, and are meant to spark a story in the viewer’s imagination and to question what is going on.

Being responsible for someone other than myself has caused me to feel torn between living as an independent woman and having a relationship. My husband works and is the provider, which causes me to feel guilty that I have not fallen into the roll of housewife. The need to rebel against the stereotype is obvious in the way I live my life and keep the house, but it is unfair for my spouse to be the breadwinner and housekeeper. Gender roles still apply; the husband works, and the wife takes care of the home.

My turmoil of emotions has caused problems in our young marriage. Through this body of work I have been able to figure out what I want in my life and our marriage. I was able to see how I really felt by being so critical of our relationship and my feelings. I was defending our relationship to myself. In the end it was decided a few dishes in the sink are not going to hurt anyone.