PROJECTS > PATIO PRIVACY

Diane Arbus once said that “one of the risks of appearing in public is the likelihood of being photographed.” Her subjects are usually squarely in the center of the frame and staring electrifyingly into the lens. This kind of direct contact is in sharp contrast to the pervasive anonymity that colors most of our experiences in public spaces such as buses, streets, museums and restaurants where direct eye contact is largely avoided.

In this series, I tried to capture the tacit game of hide and seek that people seem to play at sidewalk cafes where privacy, at least in part, is shielded by flower pots. Bodies of cozily corralled customers become masked behind fences and planters as legs, arms, and heads emerge from behind floral bouquets in fragmented and at times comical ways.

I start with photographs and turn them into illustrations, drawing only the elements that are relevant to the composition. The idea of working with the paired down parameters of line and monochrome is a gesture towards highlighting the delicate balance that these images strike between the public and the private spheres.