The Life-Size series is captured with traditional film methods, but scanned to digital files to allow larger prints to be made. The fortuitous “brand” name of the pink child’s kitchen set that was the geneses of this series is integral to questions that have motivated my work for the past few years; questions like, “what, exactly, is life-size?”, and “how are size and power related?”. The claustrophobic quality of the space pictured is enhanced by a room that is scaled to the child’s kitchen set, not the models populating it. The models don’t “fit”, echoing the real life response of many women performing Sisyphean domestic tasks. They wear kitchen aprons that are emblematic of homemaker – the desired goal of “Rosie the Riviter” in the post-war move back to the home front. As a symbol of achieving the status of perfect housewife, the non-utilitarian “dressy” apron is worn with pride for entertaining in the home, emblematic of a nuclear family surrounded with new products that would ensure their happiness.

            The scenes depicted outside the window of the confined space are from slides taken in the 1950’s that I find at garage and estate sales. Maybe the only escape from the stifling kitchen is into a world that no longer exists. To support this reading, I intend the described space to be perceived as hovering between “real” and “studio” settings.