Secrets of women's purses
by Paula Derrow
New Woman, 'new view'
December 1999
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Secrets of women's purses New Woman, 'new view' |
| "I'm not snoopy by nature," says Elise Engler, a gamine 43-year-old artist. In her series of drawings entitled "Everything in Her Bag" Engler goes where few dare -or are allowed- to enter: the inner recesses of a woman's pocketbook. | |
| Engler's idea is deceptively simple: She aks subjects ranging in age from 5 to 80 to dump their purses, then painstackingly sketches every last item, down to the last dollar bill. These contents can be surprisingly revealing. A classic nylon tote owned by a vegetarian holds a handgun. A leather backpack has a Chewbacca Pez dispenser and a Homer Simpson key chain. Engler's explanation: "This woman's boyfriend drops toys in her bag to cheer her up because she hates her job so much." | |
| Engler has completed 49 "purse portraits" so far, and she's aiming for at least 100. Her goal, she says, is not to "uncover women's secret wierdnesses" but to show what we all have in common. A list of universals would include lipsticks, hair doo-dads, wadded tissues, Altoids, goofy key chains and credit cards. Plus, says Engler, "more than a third of these woman have a Chinese fortune tucked away somewhere." | |