When we relocated to Rhode Island, I had only driven through the state on business trips. My partner had visited Providence to interview for a position at Brown University, which she accepted. I trusted her judgment that we could build a good life here.

I vividly recall driving around the area, searching for a rental home, and thinking, “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” (Wizard of Oz, 1939). I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I was accustomed to neighborhoods of recent suburban developments with almost identical homes, except for exterior details like paint colors, stucco versus siding, and so on. Close to these neighborhoods were strip malls, fast food joints and big-box stores, adding to that “Anywhere USA” sense so pervasive wherever you travel. Where I come from, there were no broken-down vehicles or boats in driveways, yard art or signs—things were different here in Warwick, were we settled.

Just before the COVID pandemic, we decided to become a one-vehicle family. Between the lockdown and limited access to a car, I was finding it difficult to photograph as I had previously. As I struggled with the dilemma, I came to understand that the project would need to focus on things I could find within walking or biking distance of our home.

I stumbled upon some truly captivating objects in my neighbors’ yards—lions, elves, turtles, flamingos, and what seemed like a lighthouses in every yard! There are actually two real lighthouses along Warwick’s shoreline on the Narragansett Bay, so that makes sense. Despite these discoveries, the resulting images were, at best, lackluster and uninteresting, a catalog of sorts. Plus, I couldn’t help but feel like a voyeur or even a Peeping Tom looking into my neighbor’s yards!

I began to reconsider the project, and with time, it evolved into a narrative that explored what I found unique, from an outsider’s perspective, about Warwick, the place we now call home. It has further transformed into a love letter to Warwick, my hometown, and a time capsule. Like many communities across the country, Warwick is currently experiencing a period of gentrification, which inevitably brings about changes that will either diminish or erase the very things that made Warwick so special. These changes risk transforming Warwick into another “Anywhere USA.” This project is a record, a paean of sorts, to what I found unusual, interesting and beautiful about Warwick, Rhode Island — my hometown.