House & Hedge

"All human beings have three sides; public, private and secret.” I’m a little obsessed with this quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and what it says about human nature.

Growing up in the Midwest, my family lived in a modest house on a tree lined street. We knew all our neighbors. There were no fences or hedges dividing us. We didn’t require much privacy, and we didn’t have any secrets. Twenty years ago, I moved to Los Angeles. The myriad ways in which people wall themselves off from others in this strange city fascinates me. Shrubs are sculpted into opaque walls that delineate property lines, conceal windows, and sometimes hide entire homes. Fences along sidewalks transition to electric gates at the driveway. I barely know my neighbors here, and rarely see them outside. I am struck with this contrast from the world I came from. Are they seeking privacy? Are they hiding secrets?

Carol Erb was born and raised in the Midwest. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a BA from DePaul University. Erb’s images have been exhibited at the Center for Fine Art Photography, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Houston Center for Photography, and several other institutions in the U.S., Japan, China, France, and the Netherlands. Carol’s work was selected for the 2017 Critical Mass Top 50, and in 2016 and 2020, she was a finalist for Critical Mass. Her photography has been featured in several publications including Black & White, Fraction, Square Magazine, Adore Noir, and Adobe Create. Carol currently resides is Los Angeles, California.