Tamara Rafkin, Sleeping Houses 18, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Sleeping Houses 12, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Sleeping Houses 7, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Sleeping Houses 8, 2012

Tamar Rafkin, Sleeping Houses 14, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Watchful Houses 2, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Watchful Houses 4, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Watchful Houses 9, 2012

Tamara Rafkin, Watchful Houses 14, 2012

American-born, Belgium-based photographer Tamara Rafkin captures the character of houses in Flanders and the Netherlands.

Sleeping Houses: An interest in issues of safety, security, and personal control motivate these photographs of shuttered houses in the Flemish region of Belgium. The images observe the cultural practice of closing windows every evening.

Watchful Houses: When traveling at night, no map is needed to know that you have crossed the border from Flanders into the Netherlands. Closed, shuttered Flemish houses give way to open, glowing Dutch houses. Open windows are beacons on the street, an invitation to look inside.