wallflower

2025 - ongoing

Wallflower grew from my research into the lives of women in the late nineteenth century. I was drawn to period photographs—daguerreotypes, tintypes, and cabinet cards—that reveal small, intimate portraits of formally dressed women. By scanning and enlarging these images, I am able to more clearly examine the nuances of expression, posture, and the intricate details of their clothing and accessories.

While developing this series, I found myself rereading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Its portrayal of domestic confinement and its early articulation of postpartum depression felt both historical and startlingly current. In the narrative, the protagonist slowly loses her mind while confined by her husband to an upstairs bedroom, fixating on wallpaper she describes as “repellant, almost revolting.” She eventually sees a woman “creeping” within the patterns and ends the story by desperately peeling the paper away with her teeth—a final, haunting descent into insanity.

In Wallflower, I layer nineteenth-century portraits with period wallpapers. These richly patterned surfaces, drawn from the decorative interiors of the time, serve as both a setting and a psychological framework. Some images preserve the grace and dignity these women projected; others are purposefully disrupted, revealing the unease and isolation beneath that quiet restraint.

daguerreotype & tintype collages

Assembled work