The Print Center Honorary Council Award of Excellence
Patty Carroll (lives Chicago, IL) has a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and an MS in Photography from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. She has exhibited her work at Museum of Contemporary Photography, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, all Chicago; Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; State of Illinois Gallery and Museum, Lockport; Baldwin Photographic Gallery at MTSU in Murphreesboro, TN; Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, TX; The Albrecht-Kemper Museum, St. Joe, MO; The Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL; Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England; White Box Museum, Beijing and the Zheijhang Museum of Art, Hangzhou, both China. Carroll’s work is held in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ruttenberg Foundation and Sandor Photography Collection, all Chicago; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, both Kansas City, MO; Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY; and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, among others. She has been awarded Artist Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, was twice in the Photolucida Critical Mass: Top 50, and was Grand Prize winner in “Herstory” from SeeMe, Siena Photo Awards for Creative Series, 2023, and First Prize in BBA PhotoAwards, Berlin, Germany. She was a resident at Akiyoshidai Arts Village, Japan; Anderson Ranch, CO; Columbia College, Chicago; and Studios Inc., Kansas City, MO. Her work is represented by Catherine Couturier Gallery, Houston, TX; Sherry Leedy Gallery, Kansas City, MO; PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX; Galerie X11, Santa Monica, CA and Paris, France.
Statement from the Artist about the series “Anonymous Women: Domestic Demise:”
My work is about the entangling of women and home inherent in the word “housewife.” My photographs are reimagined interior spaces of rooms filled with décor and objects that feature a lone figure of a woman, engulfed in her interior, often only partially visible. She is both a victim of her possessions and obsessions as well as the invisible creator of such; simultaneously satisfying and problematic, pathetic and humorous. Her home has become a site of tragedy and danger, with scenes of hilarious and heartbreaking mishaps and horror about the role of women in all societies.
My influences come from many sources, including colorful vintage movies, traditional still-life paintings, decorating magazines, a suburban upbringing, the game of Clue and Victorian writing. My intention is to bring attention to unseen heroic women who silently manage home, family and careers. The figure symbolizes so many women, no matter what culture or background, with roots in consumer culture and how we use things to provide continuity and tradition. While humor is prevalent in these narratives, the message behind them has darker implications about the role of women in all societies.