It’s difficult to put into words what’s so striking about Anonymous Women: Draped, Patty Carroll’s photo series that shows women swallowed up by the material of the wallpaper, curtains, or other draperies behind them. Some of the fabrics are lush silks and velvets, others are printed with aggressively feminine patterns, and all hide the faces and bodies of the women they adorn. What’s instantly recognizable is that these are portraits, composed in a style recognizable from thousands of years of Western art, of confinement within one’s own home or life.
“I am addressing the double edge of domesticity; the home as a place of comfort, or conversely, a place where decoration camouflages one’s individuality to the point of claustrophobia,” Carroll writes. “The draperies in these photographs act as both a visual cue as well as a literal interpretation of over-identification/obsession!” Click through to see some of the most powerful shots from Anonymous Women: Draped, which we discovered via Booooooom, and visit Carroll’s website to see the rest of the series, along with much more of her work.
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll
Photo credit: Patty Carroll