Stranger
Artist: Augustus Lees
“This is one of my personal favorites. The inspiration is a difficult question as photography, for me, is a medium based on the moment and an impulse. I love this photo as it feels equally comforting as it does ominous.”
Photography
Summer 2021
San Francisco, California
-
Contrast, contrast, contrast: what mysteries live between light and dark, organic and inorganic, public and private?
A photo of an alleyway, something found on almost every city street, is abstracted by Lees into an otherworldly corner. Windowsills, architectural details on the side of a 20th-century building, lights, loading docks, and garbage cans cast shadows, blacking-out large portions of the scene into rigid rectangles, curves, and squares.
Standing in the middle of the alleyway is a person on their phone, an organic feature bringing life into the dark and dreary ally. Although the space is public, whatever the person looks down at on their phone is completely private.
-
Augustus Lees is a Communications major in the class of 2024. His artwork is featured in Stylus on the cover of their Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 editions, and he worked as a graphic designer for the Arts Council.
Article by: Sindey Amar