Triggered: Michael Mcilvaney

Image and text by Michael Mcilvaney.

It was the American sociologist Richard Sennet who wrote about the shifting role of the public and private spheres of life. Once the realm for forming meaningful relationships, the public domain has become an arena for strangers where interaction has been replaced with suspicion, wariness and observation. At the same time, the private realm has become increasingly narcissistic. 

So how does this play out on the public stage? It might be by a desire to assimilate by wearing the latest fashion or simply by avoiding drawing attention to oneself in other ways—for example by checking one’s appearance in reflective surfaces before entering a new space like a shop or café—or it might be the process of keeping one’s distance, avoiding eye contact, or not conversing at a busy bus stop.

The series, Subordinate, from which this image was drawn, endeavors to describe the metaphors now associated with public life. It attempts to explore the evolving script of the theatre of the street and the role of the key elements in the production: the street as stage; the subject as actor/victim and the photographer as observer waiting in the wings.  Many of the images bear witness to my presence through shadow. I used structures to create “peepholes” into the public world. 

This image was taken at 7am  before the city began to bustle. I found a place where the early morning light, creating long shadows, was  falling softly on the hard concrete surfaces and where I could use a low point of view to anonymize the subject and isolate them from other commuters. The perfect subject approached, generic, almost blending in with the hues of the morning. The woman walked towards me, no acknowledgement of my presence, no eye contact, with purpose in her stride, and as she entered the frame containing my shadow I fired the shutter.

More of Michael’s work can be seen on his website or instagram.