LINDA TROELLER   SELF PORTRAIT / SELF REFLECTION     Self-Portrait, Dorm, Syracuse University, 1973 My Leica M-3 was my constant companion along with a Weston hand held light meter. My coat was from the flea market in Amsterdam and the hat had a 1920's Bloomingdale's, New York label. Some of my first images were portraits of women wearing Victorian blouses. One weekend I arrived home from college in a green taffeta bathroom attendant's dress with a lace collar. My mother commanded me to take the dress off. She thought that was not an identity I would want to be seen in. She didn't understand that I was seeking clues into a history of women's lineage -- chasing a scent and fabric of what women of many backgrounds had experienced. The 1970's were a period of unrest, women's liberation, women's groups, burning bras -- finding a new place for ourselves. We wanted to expunge some of the rules of marriage, of the art world pecking order, of class. We started asking how much more can we own of our bodies? Close Window