by Anna Block

Could you please (England, 2014)­

I came up to strangers in the street asking them to take a picture of me with my camera. I asked them to stage it, to tell me where to stand, and what to do. I also asked them to place their hand in the frame. I gave them total control.

At that time it was already two years since I’d left home. I lived in England doing my MA and getting what’s called “life experience”. I put lots of effort into building bonds with places and people around me, yet, no matter how hard I tried, in the end I was only a distant observer, a foreigner. The world seemed to be just a screen and I was desperate to tear it, to get through, and get a real physical connection with what was beyond. This performative act became a playful way to do it. Placing myself in a position of an object I questioned the common artist-vs-model dichotomy and explored issues of vulnerability and control – this photographic process tested not only myself but also limits and desires of others.

It was a game. Solitude, my body, and will of unknown people were the players. Each of us won.