Meg Aubrey statement

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The “American Dream” of owning a house with a picket fence and a perfectly green lawn on an idyllic tree-lined suburban street continues to entice or haunt us. The woman of the house has a successful, handsome husband, above average children and a comfortable lifestyle, but happiness eludes her. What is presented on the outside is not always the reality. My work deals with the façade of the suburbs and how a perfectly planned community has become the site of isolation. The idealized notion of home shown in the work of Norman Rockwell is a mirage as people move from place to place far from family and without a sense of home. Residents can feel trapped within the vast spaces of these communities, separated from their neighbors not only by the physical space, but also an emotional and psychological distance. The desire to seem happy and well adjusted, to wear the right clothes, drive the right car and live in the right subdivision has replaced the desire for actual happiness. All communities have their own boundaries and restrictions, but few seem as stifling or alienating as the conformity of suburbia.