Artist Statement
This project emerged from a photographic survey of local homes captured during my graduate studies in North America in the mid-1990s. I was fascinated by the ways individuals curated their personal habitats — spaces where cultural identity, consumer trends, and personal taste converged to form a unique fusion. These interiors transcended mere shelter, becoming inadvertent monuments to the paradoxes of belonging in a rapidly globalizing society.
Behind Closed Doors: American Home in mid-1990s interrogates the tension between idealized visions of domestic life and the messy reality of lived-in spaces. Some environments exude a comforting veneer while subtly radiating unease. Through my lens, everyday objects shed their banality and transform into uncanny forms—a lamp looms oversized and foreboding, while a cluttered dining table assumes the solemnity of an altar. In some rooms, stark functionality overrides aesthetics; in others, an excess of personal expression and curated kitsch reveals the imprints of consumer culture and identity performance.
Devoid of human subjects, these images serve as psychological portraits. The choices reflected in wallpaper patterns, furniture arrangements, and the juxtaposition of heirlooms with disposable goods whisper fragments of unspoken narratives — hints of class, heritage, and longing. By isolating these details, I invite viewers to reconstruct the anonymous inhabitants and consider how their surroundings mirror the contradictions of their cultural moment. Homes does not offer definitive answers; it lingers in the discomfort of the familiar made strange, urging us to confront the silent theater of identity we all stage behind closed doors.