C h e l s e y  V a n d e r V l i e t 

Unimportant Observations, 2013

Our interactions with the people and the world around us can be understood through two spectrums: observation and participation. Inevitably, we navigate between both groups, but despite this our behavior and personalities often dictate which we prefer. Sometimes, these two dichotomies interact with one another.

As an individual, I live my life primarily through observation. This does not mean I never interact with the world around me, but rather that I keep my distance. A cautious person, my comfort zone often demands that I thoroughly observe the world around me prior to making any decisions. Sometimes, it feels as though I live within a world I can see but not touch. Some of this alienation is self-imposed; yet equal amounts are out of my control, as though I have been left to observe by default. This photographic series analyzes and tries to make sense of the realm between observation and participation.

By photographing scenes and locations to which I am surrounded by commotion and movement, I try to put myself in subtly discomforting yet somewhat pleasant spaces; the act of photographing strangers can be quite unnerving. However, this work also depicts the (sometimes lonely and distant) solitude that comes with observation. Using shallow depth of field in nearly all of these photographs, I hope to illustrate spaces that seem both tangible yet out-of-reach, distant, and mildly dream-like.