Stranger (2018-2020)
I take pictures of people without any prior information. Being so accustomed to digital images, I began to perceive even those I encountered on the street as if they existed in a digital space. This sudden unfamiliarity with my own perspective led me to start the Stranger series.
There is an unsettling tension in the space between watching others and being observed by them. Confronting this anxiety is often avoided, but through the medium of the camera, I attempt to capture traces of it. Anxiety is not something that can be clearly visualized, so I actively use facial expressions and gestures to evoke it in the images. The subjects, though not observing me as intently as I observe them, still return my gaze, creating a mutual exchange between observer and observed.
People who are already accustomed to image consumption and voyeurism experience a reversal of the gaze when they stand in front of the lens. The act of confronting themselves through the eyes of another creates an artificial and somewhat unsettling distortion. These images, detached from real events or emotions, are reconstructed through my own experiences and perceptions, continuously accumulating errors. Stranger uncovers emotional symbols embedded in unconscious facial expressions and gestures—ones that the subjects themselves may not even recognize—ultimately sharing the gaze and the judgment that comes with it.