Dangerous Women (Who Read)
 Women who read were considered a threat to the patriarchy. Here I use vintage 19th century tintypes to create scenarios between women of the past and the present. All of the books in these images are considered feminist. Some were published hundreds of years ago and some are very recent. They were all considered controversial for their time. Some are banned. Book banning is on the rise. 

That is the real danger.

Dangerous Women

This series focuses on the diminishing options of a woman's right to choose. In these images, I incorporate herbs and flowers that have been used as a form of birth control since ancient times.

HERbarium- HER Choice

Manipulated Archival Digital Print on metallic paper. 
Usually, one thinks of home as a place of comfort and refuge. Lately, due to COVID-19, the word home has taken on an entirely new meaning.  One of confinement and isolation. 

Home-Alone

During the 19th century Victorians became obsessed with collecting fern. The term coined for this craze was pteridomania or fern fever. Fern collecting was one of the few hobbies to transcend class barriers as well as one of the few avenues open to women who wanted to experience adventure. It was considered an acceptable healthy wholesome outdoor activity for women, who were allowed to engage in fern hunting unchaperoned.

Fern fever became an obsession in the decorative arts. Both fabrics and wallpapers were adorned with fern motifs. To achieve the rich colors popular at that time arsenic was added to the pigments. Those who came in contact with these materials would often become ill and the possibility of violent death was not uncommon.

Fern Fever

I create my images by referencing the Victorian’s fascination with botany and the symbolism from the 19th century book TheLanguage of Flowers. These were books written for and most often by women. Each flower had a symbolic meaning and by giving or receiving flowers one could communicate a coded message to another without breaking any of the strict Victorian taboos of the time. The flowers I have chosen all reference a physical or emotional attribute dealing with sexuality. This language helps to empower these women in understanding their sexual identity.

Sex Education From Flowers


 The Spiritual Movement began during the mid 19th century. It was believed that life existed after death and some had the power to communicate with the deceased. Because woman had a life-giving force it was believed they were more attuned to the spiritual world than men. Women were able to be spiritual mediums and could preach and teach publicly. This opened the door for opportunities that women previously did not have. This  new form of empowerment attracted women involved in the suffrage movement. This movement was quite progressive and dealt not only with disenfranchisement, but abolition, divorce, women’s rights and free love.


The Spiritualists

Positives/Negatives   Good/Evil     Medicinal/Poison
This series received the 11th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers in the collage and manipulation category (2018)

Why Witch Hunts

85% of those accused of witchcraft were women. These women were usually healers, midwives, the elderly or the very poor.  Religious leaders, the rich and the powerful hierarchy wanted to control the people. They needed a target to create an environment of fear.  Women who did not fit into what was considered “the norm” could be accused of being a witch.



Witch or Healer

Recording the dead as a treasured remembrance was common practice in the 19th century. Mortality rates were high especially among mothers and children (it was common for babies to remain unnamed until after their first year of life). In these images I combine the symbolism used in 19th century posthumous paintings with the reality of 19th century post mortem tintype

Mourning Tears

My images begin with 19th century tintypes of women, which I scan and manipulate. I name each woman so that she has a personal identity. If an image is used in multiple series, the name remains the same. This series Antidote, is a response to my other series Pick Your Poison, in which women were trapped in a "Sphere of Domesticity" by poisonous plants. The study of plants, i.e.botany was one of the few venues deemed respectable for women to pursue beyond the home. In this series these women are no longer trapped by their surroundings. They have used their newfound knowledge to turn the tides. These poisonous plants that had kept them "in place" are now under their control. 

Antidote

I use 19th century tintypes of women as my starting point in exploring female identity. In this series, Sugar and Spice I look at the restrictive parameters put upon young girls whose only choice in life was to become wife and mother. Here I look into the minds of these girls and try to understand their desires, conflicts and fantasies. I also want to show the inner strength that these girls had to persevere and become the women they want to be.

Sugar and Sice

I explore female identity by appropriating and manipulating 19th century photographic images called tintypes .
This series: Quake, explores the feeling of unforeseen change that disrupts ones foundation. Though life
seems to be falling apart, there is a glimmer of hope in each image which I represent through a small patch of color. If you look closely you'll see part of each women's face somewhere in each image.

Quake

The sphere is a reference to Darwin’s work in biological determination, fueling the belief that men & women inhabit separate spheres. Woman’s was home as wife & mother. Botany, an area of study open to women in the 1800’s was acceptable as as a confirmation of the existence of God. Once it went beyond that  & became science men took over, this area was out of her sphere. Similarly, this happened with medicine. Women, some known as healers and midwives were dependent upon for healing. This too was considered out of her sphere & trained male doctors took over. Here I use poisonous plants. These plants, though beautiful, take over & in some cases practically suffocate & can kill.  Like the Garden of Eden there was punishment for knowledge.

Pick Your Poison

Throughout history woman have been bound. They were bound to their men,  their home and their children.   Men were believed to be the superior sex and women were their property. 
The 19th century brings together two forces. One was the belief that the role of men and women were strictly separate and the advent of the tintype. This was an exciting time in photography.  It was probably the first time most people were able to have their images recorded. 
Each of my images begins with a tintype, which I scan and manipulate. Tintypes tell their own story which was created by the photographer and the sitter. I use that story as my starting point. I manipulate the image by layering visual metaphor thus creating my own narrative.

Seeing

Botanicals

These images are from a series titled TechnoVoids"  an ongoing  going of identity, expectations, place, strength, inner thoughts and image.
I appropriate and alter images from 19th century anonymous tintypes and name my women using names popular in that era.

Techno Voids

Mother Nature explores the inner strength of women.
This body of work is an exploration of identity and expectations specifically dealing with women. I use anonymous 19th century tintypes of women which I appropriate and alter. I give each of  these women a name from a list of names commonly used in 19th century; thus giving them an a personal identity. I  use  color to create an emotional identity helping to extend the pictorial narrative. My interest is inspired  by a need to represent the  restrictive perimeters put upon women who are forced  to fit into prescribed societal beliefs. 

Mother Nature

a relationship in which a person is linked or associated with someone else.
to join, fasten together; unite or bind:
the space separating two points

con·nec·tions

"Voided"  is part of my on-going exploration of identity,  strength and inner thought In a society where woman are restricted by a set of rules imposed upon women in a male dominated society
I appropriate and alter images from 19th century anonymous tintypes and name my women using names popular in that era.

Voided

Voided, Pink and Blue
Traditional male/ female colors used as a vehicle  exploring feelings  of being invisible in a male dominated society.  
I appropriate and alter images from 19th century anonymous tintypes and name my women using names popular in that era


Voided , Pink and Blue

Veiled

This collection titled Shadows is part of my larger Voids series
In this group I continue to explore the highly restrictive perimeters put upon women to fit into societal dictates and how a hidden underlying strength pervades. Even though these images are approriated from tintypes dating back to the late 19th century when women’s lives were truly restricted, many of these restrictions continue to the present though not as blatantly expressed. The word shadow can have many meanings. It can be “ a dark image made by a body” a “feeling of gloom”, "something without reality or substance” or in this case, to observe, take in, to change, to take shape, gather strength and to CAST their shadows. 
 

Shadows


"Techno Voids 2" It is part of my on-going exploration of restriction, expectations, place, strength, identity & inner thoughts.
I appropriate and alter images from 19th century anonymous tintypes and name my women using names popular in that era.

Techno Voids 2

The Group
Beliefs can change; in this series the role of "the group” has allowed for the forming of new ideas and beliefs that collectively create a new cultural norm. Here we begin to see the true identity of these individual women  show through.


The Group

New Ideas

The Cult of True Womanhood(1820-1860)
 a term coined by historian Barbara Welter to describe the process of indoctrinating a set of behavioral traits in women: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. 

Leslie Sheryll