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Margaret Rizzuto

Dare Me

‘Invisibility Syndrome’ isn’t a metaphor—it’s a lived experience. As women age, we are dismissed, overlooked, and essentially invisible. It doesn’t seem to matter how brilliant, beautiful, or accomplished we’ve been—we vanish. No one is exempt. I know—because I’m living it. And I’ve come to realize I’m far from alone.

While this is a deep and often painful truth, I was determined that this project not feel hopeless. I want to illuminate it, to name it, and to push back—loudly. No—no, we do not have to accept this erasure. We will not accept it. Dare Me is a refusal. It’s also a reclamation.

It has taken us a lifetime to arrive at this place—through pain and joy, growth and hard-won wisdom—and we deserve not just to be seen, but, dare I say, celebrated.

To bring this evolution into visual form, I found an unlikely ally: Flo, a beautifully crafted, mature doll from Poland. She became my muse for this project, embodying the vulnerability, acceptance, and defiance of aging with grace and a little humor. This work is for every woman who’s been made to feel small in the very years she’s grown into her full power.

We’ve earned the right to be seen—fully, fiercely. The dare is ours to take.

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The background for these images is a photograph of aging tulip petals that have fallen from their stems. They remind me that beauty may transform with time, but it does not disappear…

Artist Bio

Margaret Rizzuto is a Providence, Rhode Island–based photographer working in both traditional photography and Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). Her work looks at the tension between what is hidden and what is revealed, often using abstraction to explore how personal experience shapes perception. Largely self-taught, Margaret spent over 15 years as a portrait photographer in New York before working with conceptual photography. She is an exhibiting member of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, the Bristol Art Museum, and the Griffin Museum of Photography. Her work has been included in juried exhibitions and group shows across the region.

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