Modern Women at Home in a Foreign Land begins in Paris, the City of Light: a city many outsiders believe is full of charm, romance, vin rouge and joie de vivre. For expatriate women, life in the French capital is often far from this bohemian, rose-tinted dream.



As wives and mothers, women often naturally assume the role as primary nest-builders and social communicators within the family unit. Little more than ten years ago, the budgets of global companies for expatriate relocation remained free-flowing, facilitating luxurious lifestyles. They also provided women the support and resources to easily establish a home in a foreign land. Today, the story is very different.



This change is not simply a matter of budget cuts and reduced lifestyles: the face of the expat is changing too. Expats are younger and, due to economic global limitations, are increasingly making the move under their own steam and on their own terms. The traditional employee expatriate is becoming a rare breed.



Instantaneous global communication and social networking are other contributing factors to this shift. Individuals can access information at the touch of a button in any language providing a reassuring cushion when moving to and living in a foreign land. This access to information online not only replaces the need for traditional employer logistical support, but along with social media, forms a lifeline to friends and family all over the world. These online communities even introduce individuals to perfect strangers co-existing in the same city.



Although information and communication technology does not replace the financial security-blanket of expat packages past, it does enable even the most apprehensive individuals to make a life relocation (including partners, children and sometimes pets) to the other side of the world.



However, a question remains: does the reliance of the Internet come at a cost to the everyday life of modern women living in a foreign land, or does it simply ease the transition into the city they are so eager to call home?



Through her portrait series, photographer Chloe Lodge explores how connected modern expat women feel with their physical environment and how the Internet helps or hinders their integration with Paris as a city.