Dream Deferred: American Suburban Landscapes

My passion for the landscape informs my work as I photograph the man-altered environment and explore its cultural implications in suburban and urban settings. There has always been a sense of romanticism about the American landscape with its vast, open spaces contrasted to its ever-expanding suburbs. That expansion may have reached its limit, however, with the car-oriented suburbs deteriorating at an ever-faster rate. Does our concept of progress still apply or have we as a country fallen behind? Will we leave these buildings to rot, thus affecting everyone who lives around them? Or will we evolve, rethinking use, to create a new, vital environment? I have been working on this series for a number of years. I go back to the same locations and nothing has changed; the same empty storefronts; the same abandoned buildings. I fear that rather than evolve, the suburbs depicted in these photographs, will continue to go down hill for a variety of reasons. The suburbs of the future will look nothing like they do today. My series bears witness to a change that most people are not even aware of that is happening. all around us. The American Dream doesn't look as promising as it once did.