Suburbia

When I first moved to my house in the suburbs in 1984, I thought there was nothing there but a lot of houses that looked alike with their perfect lawns. After a while, I began to notice small things: a shrub shaped into a smooth mound, patterns from lawnmowers, row upon row of houses stacked to the horizon, the mysterious glow of trees under a streetlight. I began to try to photograph these small things, trying to elicit the attraction, aversion, and even amazement I felt for my surroundings. I am intrigued with the choices the builders and purchasers of these houses have made--the sameness of design, the conformity of the architecture and landscaping to some unspoken standard of taste. I want to depict not only the clean, neat "perfection," but also to point out some visual subtleties that exist in spite of the apparent sterility. The photos can comment, perhaps with a twist of irony or wit, on the society that lives there (including me).