Penelope with her Two Daughters, Monday, February 3rd, 2003 7:00-7:20PM

This photograph shows three women around a dining-room table, a symbol of a communal family ritual. But instead of facing each other, they are absorbed by their laptop computers. The women appear blurry and ghostlike, almost as if they have been transported to another world through the glowing screens. It is the inanimate physical objects throughout the room that come into view in detail, hinting at the transience of human existence as well as the sometimes alienating effects of contemporary communication. Pillsbury uses ambient lighting produced by the electronic devices that permeate our lives—such as televisions, computer screens, and cell phones—combined with long exposure times to create photographs that examine our relationships with these devices and the objects and people around us.