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Images of a Woman's Place
By Kathleen Stanley
Thursday, May 11, 2000; Page H03
The idea for "In Her Place," a collection of photographs of 56 women, came to local photographer Peggy Fleming during what she calls "a nice time in my day . . . . peeling and slicing onions for dinner, 'All Things Considered' on the radio, dog sitting on my left foot." She wondered where other women went for interludes of solitude and contentment.
No shots of women racing to day care or in the express line at Safeway here. Most are moments at home: playing the piano, gardening, sharing an all-too-rare family meal, taking a bath.
Fleming wanted to reflect the diversity of Washington women, in age and culture. Her first impulse was to contact high-profile women, but she realized that women in her own life were a rich source of images. "They are all in my life, from the postal clerk and the woman who gives me allergy shots to the owner of my dry cleaner," says Fleming, a retired National Park Service ranger who joined with her sisters, Kathleen Whilden and Patty Dougherty, to form Three Sisters Press, the publisher of this handsome collection.
Fleming asked each subject to write about her chosen spot before she arrived with her camera. "My bath is a complete ending to my day," says the text with a photo of Pam Taylor. "A time just to be."
Fleming will sign copies of "In Her Place" (121 pp., $29.95) at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW ( 202-364-1919) Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. The photographs go on view today at Rock Creek Gallery, 2401 Tilden St. NW (202-244-2482) through June 4.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
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