London, United Kingdom
Magdalena J. Wittchen—Royal College of Art, UK
When Magdalena Wittchen immigrated from Poland to the UK, she began life on her own. “I pretty much lived by myself since I was 15,” explained the artist. “And it was hard, of course, but I grew up very quickly.” Now a recent MA graduate of London’s R
oyal College of Art, Wittchen examines the ways in which people move through, and walk unexamined through, the streets.
“I use photography kind of against itself,” said the artist in Arles. “I shoot in a low light situation. I also shoot outside on the streets at night or after the sun goes down. I don’t use models. I’ve tried. I want to photograph people who don’t know that I’m photographing them. I focus on a color, on a movement, on the dynamics of the street, and on this idea that in any outside setting, people really focus on getting from A to B. We all kind of get very isolated.”
The result is distant, but striking, bringing about the emotions of disconnect and loneliness within the viewer. “I think I’m not finished with the urban and the street and with the strangers,” said Wittchen.