Monday, October 12, 2009

Further research: Shizuka Yokomizo - Stranger

This is nothing to do with family, quite the opposite, but there are those who feel like a stranger in their own family. Those who don't fit and who feel they don't belong.

In the Stranger series, each photograph shows someone looking out through a window. The artist has never met any of these people. She selected their addresses and then wrote an anonymous letter asking if the recipient would stand at a particular window, alone, with the room lights on, at a specific time of night so that she could photograph them from the street. It focus’s on the gap between ‘self and other’. (From sitegallery.org)


This series has always been an intrigue; the images have always held attention, more for their seeming pointlessness rather than anything else. But when recently viewed closely as a group it is apparent that their draw lies in the individuality of the compositions when seen together.



(i) This gentleman clearly has money, yet he presents himself for the photographer only partly dressed, on the phone and with his hand behind his back. He is very, almost too relaxed, in his own home, knowing what is happening.




(ii) She is in very simple surroundings, quite plain and sparse. She is well dressed, neat and well kept. She stands very straight and stares out of the window away from the photographer. Quietly confident.




(iii) He seems very relaxed; his house is designed for him, his comfort and relaxation. It looks an inviting place. He comes across as a friendly person who knows more than most. He seems very content with who he is.




(iv) This is a very rigid, forced posture, very unnatural. It is a very busy room in which he is photographed, yet it is very clean. The only things that aren’t black or white are the plan and his colouring. He almost seems unable to be natural.

It is a very odd series, but does indeed question the self and its relationship to others. Society as a whole is extremely segregated; people can live next to others for years and no little or nothing about them. It gets you questioning what our priorities are and if they need to be changed.

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