Clarissa Bonet transplanted from Florida to Chicago for graduate school in 2009. She was immediately struck by the differences between life in Florida and her new urban environment. The tall buildings and masses of strangers she was now living among, became the central focus in her series City Space.

City Space focuses on how a city can make the people living in it feel a certain way. “I am interested in the physical space of the city and its emotional and psychological impact on the body. These photographs reconstruct mundane events in the city that I have personally experienced or witnessed in public. Stark light, deep shadow and muted color are visual strategies I explore to describe the city.  I use the city as a stage and transform the physical space into a psychological one. The images I create do not represent a commonality of experience but instead provide a personal interpretation of the urban landscape.” – Clarissa Bonet

Clarissa’s inspiration derives from street photography, but the final images are careful composed. In Street Dance, 2013, Clarissa stages multiple pedestrians, all carrying packages, walking amongst each other. They are anonymous yet connected through their shared space. Watch the video below as Clarissa photographs for Street Dance, 2013 and explains her process further.

“Clarissa Bonet: The Artist Behind the Camera” by Sophia Nahli Allison

The Chicago Project V: Selections from Our Online Gallery
July 12 – August 31, 2013
www.edelmangallery.com