Transient Defiance in Civic Spaces
These are ordinary, urban spaces – car parks, walkways, underpasses, corners of parks. These aren’t abandoned, derelict structures, but are rather the in-between parts of a city where people pass through without stopping. They’re made for everyone, yet rarely noticed for what they are.
Inspired by photographers like Arkadiy Kurta and Ruslan Lobanov, I’m exploring how the figure can exist in these spaces – as a figurative “stop-sign”, forcing viewers to double-take and consider what they are seeing.
These are low‑risk, carefully chosen locations – quiet, semi‑public, often deserted – where we can work quickly and discreetly. We plan ahead, find the right spot, and then work with whatever the moment gives us – light, weather, even the small sounds of the city. This project calls for momentary topless nudity only – a slipped strap, a lifted hem, a brief reveal.
This project is for those who want to help me make a stand against erasure, censorship and body-shaming. Part of the electricity comes from the defiance itself – a fleeting act of visibility in a place that isn’t built for stillness or skin. It’s an instantaneous statement to the world, “I was here, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”.
I’m also exploring semi-public indoor spaces – deserted cafés & waiting rooms, quiet train stations & commercial corners. Places that are meant for people, even when no one’s around. These are LOW risk, but deliberately not NO risk. The charge of the image – the electricity – comes from that risk. Remove it altogether and the purpose of this project disappears.
These images exist for the double-take – the moment where the world is interrupted by something incontrovertibly human.