Suburbia and the American Dream are perpetually connected, the former’s seemingly uniform pristineness acting as a primary signifier of all that the latter promises. For close to a century now, the two have been celebrated, criticised, performed and marketed across literature, art, film, and advertising, while the material pillars of picket-fenced neighbourhoods have been emulated by architects and city planners around the world.
Relaying his entry point, Engel suggests that it’s ‘a subculture with abundant literature. I started at the beginning, which according toauthor Kenneth T Jackson, could be Brooklyn of 1814, when the ferry line was inaugurated.’ Indeed, despite misconceptions owing to the swell of attention that post-war suburbia initiated, gated communities began emerging in tandem with the country’s Industrial Revolution.
Works by Gregory Crewdson, Joel Meyerowitz and Ed and Deanna Templeton are amongst those that highlight suburbia’s homogeny, while images from Bill Owens’ highly acclaimed 1973 bookare, significantly, granted a whole room. ‘He was the first to photograph his neighbours, in the early 1970s, and so his work is the heart of the exhibition,’ observes Engel.