Public, Private and Personal Space in Street Photography

Historically, Street Photography has denoted defined areas as being specifically in the street and out in public. But start studying the work of many of the iconic street photographers closely, and you will find many of the photographs have been made in what potentially could be private or personal space.

A Joel Meyerowitz color image of a baby in a box crib next to a table of guns is clearly not on the street. It could be a public space in the sense of a store interior, but how is this space considered, private or public?

Walker Evans made pictures of people on their porches and in their houses. Bill Owens made pictures of people in their houses, workplaces and yards. William Klein photographs are made in bars, fashion shows, and barbershops. Photographs by Garry Winogrand are made in elevators, restaurants, business lobbies and nightclubs.

The term and practice of Street Photography often seems to occupy a nebulous space between the public and the private. I was interested in creating an exhibition where the images from different artists could dialogue with each other, and elaborate on the genre as a whole, by investigating this crossover of what is considered private, public and personal space.

Each artist was chosen for their specific approach to making images in this nebulous territory.

There are six artists and 72 total works.

The exhibition traveled to four venues from 2018 into 2020, the University of California Palm Desert Center, The Annenberg Beach

House in Santa Monica, the Progress Gallery in the Pomona Arts Colony, and the Santa Ana College Santora Art Gallery in Orange County California.

Artists: Philip Adam, Cindy Bendat, Tommi Cahill, M. Robert Markovich, Douglas McCulloh, and William Purcell.