‘Dear Stranger’: A Photographer Watches You From The Street, 1998-2000

“Dear Stranger,

I would like to take a photograph of you standing in your front room from the street in the evening.
A camera will be set outside the window on the street.”

– Shizuka Yokomizo

 

 

Shizuka Yokomizo mailed the same letter to randomly selected homes in her neighbourhood, whilst living in Berlin, New York, London and Tokyo:

“Dear Stranger,

I am an artist currently working on a photographic project which involves people I do not know. I would be delighted if you could get involved in this project.

I would like to take a photograph of you standing in your front room from the street in the evening.
A camera will be set outside the window on the street. If you do not mind being photographed, please stand in the room and look into the camera through the window for 10 minutes on _/_/_:_ pm. I will have come before _/_/_:_ pm and set up my camera. I will take your picture for 10 minutes and then leave.

* Instructions*
It has to be only you, one person in the room alone. Please turn all the lights on and stand at least 1~1.5m away from the window. If you are too close to the window, you will become just a shadow in the picture. I would like you to wear something you always wear at home. Please do keep reasonably still and calmly look into the camera. 10 minutes is a very long time to keep still. Please try it as much as possible but you can relax from time to time. If you do not want to get involved, please simply draw the curtains to show your refusal.

I will NOT knock on your door to meet you. We will remain strangers to each other. However, I will send you a small print later on with my name, address and telephone number. If you do not want your photograph to be exhibited, you can then let me know.

I really hope to see you from the window.

Faithfully,

Artist

 

 

 

“What led me to do those pieces were the situations that I just happened to be in – situations where I was in a foreign country as a stranger, feeling a sense of alienation, or estrangement.

There were moments when I was very self-conscious of my presence when I was in an unfamiliar culture and felt like I was not fitting in with many things around me. For example, in England, most of the buildings had windows facing the street, and people tended to leave their curtains open at night, so I could see inside as I walked through the streets.

I felt this sense of separation in being able to see what was happening inside the buildings from outside while not actually being in them myself. This overlapped with my feeling of being out of place in that foreign culture.”

–  Shizuka Yokomizo

 

 

“I used the window as a device. I tried to see how much I could shorten the distance between myself and each subject while maintaining our relationship as two strangers, and I wanted to capture this as an image.”

– Shizuka Yokomizo

 

 

Via: Madoken

Dear Stranger (1998-2000), a series of photographs by Shizuka Yokomizo, can be viewed on her website.