The College of Fine Arts, Shanghai University will feature the artwork of renowned Chicago photographer, Patty Carroll, during the 2010 Shanghai Biennale.  The university’s industrial gallery space, M50, will showcase her latest collection of Anonymous Women from November 6-18, 2010.  Carroll, who teaches digital photography at Columbia College and The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, is well known for her visual play on domestic objects and their relationships to women.  An opening reception is scheduled for Saturday, November 6 at 4:30 pm; admission is free.
 
Anonymous Women features 33 photographs of faceless figures draped in striking fabrics and textiles.   Carroll started this project after returning from her life in England, where she felt her household status superseded her professional and personal identity.  “Making a home, whether through physical renovation or an internal sense of comfort, remains a constant, universal issue for many women. As a woman artist, I am addressing the double edge of domesticity; the home as comfort opposed to a place where decoration can substitute for, or hide ills and truths,” Carroll comments.  “The pictures are claustrophobic and powerful.”  Readjusting to life in America, she began to artistically play with ideas behind home accoutrements, providing her both solace and dread.   “While the trappings shown here are western style drapery from various eras, I am hoping that they will translate into all cultures,” Carroll adds. “Perhaps this work will offer the chance for women anywhere to both laugh and cry at these essential predicaments.”
 
About Patty Carroll
Patty Carroll received her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and a Master of Science degree in photography from The Institute of Design, IIT in Chicago, studying fine art and traditional photography with Aaron Siskind, Arthur Siegel, and Garry Winogrand, Since then, she has continuously taught photography at the university level, while working as an independent artist in her Chicago studio. Her photographs have been purchased by The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and MOMA, as well as many private collectors. Her photographs have been published in various books as part of larger projects, such as Women Photographers (Abrams), and Changing Chicago, (U of I Press.) Her collaboration with Victor Margolin resulted in the book, Culture is Everywhere, released in 2002 (Prestel.).  More information about Carroll and her work can be found at www.pattycarroll.com.