From It’s Nice That:

“There is a pleasure in being able to see into a space that’s not your own”, Aleia tells us. “Miniatures allow us to look closely and survey a private space in detail. They re-present something back to us in a non-confrontational way”.

Aleia and Sam take us right into the dark heart of middle-class suburban America. Inspired by TV dramas and movies, their sets feature white picket fences, flat screen televisions, bubble baths and teeny tiny burnt out cigarettes. “I love making rooms that feel nostalgic, romantic or banal”, Aleia explains, “but also have something foreboding or off-putting about them”.

The set’s fakeness gives it an unsettling quality. The scene appears so real, yet with the harsh lighting and absence of human life, it is the materiality of the scene that is highlighted. We are just left with the commercial aspect of life.

Each interior tells a story, with a googly-eyed snail as the actor. When you see a snail at its office desk, amongst Jack Daniels, coffee, red lipstick and cigarettes, you can almost imagine the exact character it could be, a diabolical editor, Miranda Priestly type figure.

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