Growing up in the Chicago suburbs during the 1950s and ’60s, photographer Patty Carroll lived in a homogeneous, harmonious bubble. By way of cookie-cutter houses, rigid gender norms, and midcentury notions of perfectionism and civility, Carroll came to know the suburbs as “fabricated places of solace,” as she writes in her artist’s statement for “Anonymous Women,” currently on display at Schneider Gallery. The exhibit is the culmination of a photo project that Carroll has been working on since the mid-90s.
For example, in Mixer, the woman in the frame is almost entirely unidentifiable. She’s concealed by a heap of heavy, patterned drapes—the outlines of her body are barely visible until you notice electric mixers, grasped in each hand. The relationship to domesticity is especially clear in this photo, which reduces the functions of a woman’s hands to those of a kitchen utensil.
‘Anonymous Women’
However, life in the public sphere can be equally inhibiting. Historically, many women who hoped to find professional success have been forced into anonymity. This pressure has been especially relevant for writers. For example, all three of the Brontë sisters initially wrote under fake male names: Acton for Anne, Currer for Charlotte, and Ellis for Emily. Mary Ann Evans famously spent her entire career writing under the pseudonym George Eliot, and J.K. Rowling quit writing the Harry Potter series under the name Joanne Rowling after publishers told her that little boys wouldn’t pick up a fantasy book by a woman author.
Through 4/29: Tue-Sat, 11 AM-5 PM Schneider Gallery 770 N. LaSalle 312-988-4033schneidergallerychicago.com Free
