SOMEONE'S TURF

In Someone's Turf, Xiaoran Xu offers a playfully surreal investigation of that iconic symbol of domestic, and particularly suburban, prosperity, the grassy lawn. Fascinated by the in-between status of yards–which are at once public and private, nature and artificial–Xu stages images using synthetic turf and found objects, and intersperses them with documentary photographs of existing lawns. The uncanny juxtapositions in her images pose subtle critiques of the psycho-social, utopian motivations behind these highly regulated spaces. Ultimately her project, like the lawns themselves, captivates viewers with its lush color and dynamic compositions.