The Solitary Now, 2016

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An ambivalent modernity exists in generic urban spaces: car parks, train stations, alleyways. The interest I have in these non-places relates to how they act as intersections between public and private domains. By staging portraits in these transitional locations I aim to provoke debate about the relationship of the individual to the modern city.

 

The subjects are seemingly unaware of the photographer; they are caught in a moment beyond the non-place they are occupying. However, despite the deliberate resemblance to candid photographs, these are highly constructed images. Subjects were invited to participate in the project via direct advertising to a modelling agency. During each individual photography session, which took place in various city spaces, the models were closely directed. The images represent a type of collaboration between subject and photographer, whereby each participant acts a part to produce an image that captures more than a single psychological moment. The tension or slippage between documentary and constructed imagery is harnessed to highlight the interpretive power of photography.