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Initially, I was attracted to the repetitive architectural nature of my childhood neighborhood, named Forest Glen for now long felled trees and forgotten wild flower pastures. The development was built in the mid 50s in Hamburg, NY on the outskirts of Buffalo. I extensively photographed the suburb’s exterior and was then invited inside, photographing Forest Glen residents in their living rooms and backyards. With the help of hired neighborhood kids, over 200 flyers were placed in mailboxes asking for participation in this project. My opposing feelings of intrigue and repulsion fueled my desire to fairly represent the neighborhood where I grew up while simultaneously distinguishing incongruities rarely noticed by its inhabitants. Suburban Landscapes was a research-intensive two-year project combining photography and printmaking with the use of computers. Working digitally, I experimented with the slick and seamless world of digital output. Blending these new technologies with the traditional, I hand printed using an offset press the photographic computer images I created. This commercial process with a fine art twist worked perfectly with the images of the suburban neighborhood I had been continually photographing for two years. The clay-coated paper I finally chose enabled layers of ink to physically sit on top of each other which gave a richness of light and depth unavailable in traditional photographic processing. The repetitiveness of the edition process became important in enhancing the idea of the manufactured community I was representing. |
