She Sees Your Every Move
While traditional street photography usually catches strangers passing by in a public space, the photographer Michele Iversen has been catching strangers passing by in their own private spaces, without their permission. At night she sits in her car and watches the warm glowing windows of strangers’ homes waiting for the perfect shot.
Since 1995 Iversen has been collecting these images for her “Night Surveillance Series.” “I find my theater, you know the actual window,” she explains, “and then the performance begins.” She’s captured people binge eating, washing dishes, sleeping.
Iversen admits she feels uncomfortable watching her subjects – and wants her audience to be uncomfortable looking at her photographs as well. And yet she continues to make them: “They are like these beautiful tableaux to me, they tell a story – they show peoples lives.”
Produced by Studio 360’s Jonathan Mitchell. (Originally aired: December 17, 2010)
What do you think of Iversen’s work? Is it acceptable to compromise someone’s privacy for the purposes of making art? Tell us in a comment below.
Slideshow: Photography by Michele Iversen
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.