FINDING BELLE, 2022

“Finding Belle,” I first envisioned a place I wished I could find again someday.  As I searched for the location I had in mind, I stumbled across Belle Mead. A place in Rappahannock county, Virginia, is composed of two places in one property. The presented work focuses on the concrete questions of the connection between a family farmhouse and a private school owned by Mike Biniek and Susan Hoffman. Their story focuses on fulfilling their dream of creating a model community for sustainable living. Belle Meade has grown into what it is today because of Susan and Mike’s flexible, nurturing patience as they developed the different components of their holistic vision. This landscape series shows the surface story of what Belle Meade appears to be from a stranger’s perspective into the unknown.