Quincey Spagnoletti

My work in photography has given me the ability to pursue my interests in gender roles and the female form. Inspired by the work of photographer Laurie Simmons, I began photographing the toys and appliances that accompanied my own personal Barbie from childhood. My current photographic series “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Nothing,” explores society’s expectations of women after they reach a certain age and marital status. In these images, I emulate the position I stood in on my wedding day, with my back to the crowd and myself facing forward. Stepping back into my wedding dress, I decorate the train of my dress with my childhood Barbie toy collection. These intimate settings serve as a double meaning; at first, they are an ordinary appliance with an ordinary purpose, but the lines and angles of each shot suggest something deeper. With Simmons’ influence I began to riff on ideas and suggestions about how, through such toys as Barbie, females are asked to fulfill their perceived roles. The objects I photographed – small appliances, accessories and figures – revealed something that was supposed to be hidden but is actually there. This photographic series displays my struggle with the reality of being forced into a certain mold and I find myself turning to photography to make sense of it.

Quincey Spagnoletti is a photographer whose work explores her interests in gender roles and the female form. She investigates the impact society has on women and their unconscious behaviors made on a daily basis. She recently completed a post-baccalaureate certificate at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University, Boston, MA and recently began her Master of Fine Arts degree this fall at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University. She earned her undergraduate degree from Colgate University in Art & Art History. She was the recipient of the Gary M. Hoffer Prize for Excellence in Photography from Colgate University and her senior thesis “In the Spare Room,” was featured at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Visual Arts, in Lacrosse Wisconsin. Her latest group exhibit “Hot Babes inside,” was displayed this past summer with other members of the graduate program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. 

Spagnoletti was born in Syracuse, NY and currently lives in Boston, MA.