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Photographing Suburbia Gone Wild


January 3, 2013 | Andy Cush

In Martin Adolfsson’s photos, what looks like a real estate listing or furniture catalog photograph is actually something very different. Adolfsson has been shooting suburban model homes–those prefab facades made famous by Arrested Development–for the past six years, around the world in an effort to “describe the economic and cultural homogenization that is now occurring in many developing countries.” He’s worked on five continents, especially in the suburbs of “Bangkok, Shanghai, Bangalore, Cairo, Moscow, Johannesburg, São Paulo and Mexico City.”

More from Adolffson:

I feel the most salient exploration is the shift in the mindset of the residents of these new suburbs from an identity that’s based on nationality to a globally marketed form of identity that unites the residents of these enclaves with each other, regardless of location, more than with their own countrymen.

The photographer’s website is a treasure trove of gilded, stylized suburban oases, and he’s recently taken to Kickstarter to fund a book of photos. Check out some highlights in the gallery above.