Fascinated by the shift from the open suburbs of Ohio to the enclosed banlieues of southern France, my work explores how architecture, boundaries, and social ritual shape what is shown and what is kept hidden. In Ohio, suburban life often reads as exposure: lawns, porches, and façades present a narrative to the street. Houses address the public realm directly; gestures of hospitality and status are performed in full view. This visibility suggests a particular kind of community choreography—neighbors circulate on sidewalks, domestic life and display merge in familiar, outward-facing ways.

In the banlieu of the south of France I inhabit now, the posture is different. Walls, gates, and tall plantings create intentional separations. The house is intimate by design; its whole presence is never quite revealed from the outside. Layers of enclosure enact a private ritual: ostentation, if it exists, lives behind portals and is revealed only by invitation. The boundary itself becomes a social language—what is shown to the passerby, what is retained for a chosen guest, and the ways thresholds control movement, view, and relationship.