Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence.
–Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
My photography project Rallentando (gradual slowing down) is about peripheral perception and memory as they unfold in serendipitous encounters on a city street. Subjects move in and out of focus as the lens alights upon a downward gaze, a hand carrying a cake, a lock of curly hair, synecdochic portraits of everyday passersby.
I sequence these fragments and portraits—captured in different stages of clarity—to reveal the visual landscape of the city street as a systematic collection of impressions. I arrange these images into grids according to color palettes created by monotone, urban backdrops (red brick wall, green construction fence, yellow window display). The blur is created by experimenting with different materials to partially obstruct the camera lens or by the subject moving out of focus.
Like a moving series of paint collections strips, color gradients unite subjects, reminding us that we are much more alike than we are different, and that individual moments or experiences are components of a larger, continuous reality where only the present exists.
Akin to Hannah Arendt's concept of plurality–the notion that the presence of others is what makes action meaningful–my photography, through its focus on candid moments in public spaces, reflects the distinctiveness of individuals within the shared reality of a communal space. Rallentando visually embodies the richness of human diversity and the spontaneous expression of individual freedom in public life.