The City is a Choreography
What if would see the city as a stage – a complex scenery of perfectly arranged and choreographed elements? With her meticulous attention to the smallest details, photographer Melissa Schriek shows us our familiar urban environment in completely new context.
Photography Melissa Schriek
I see the city as a place of constant movement. A rhythm we become part of once we step onto the concrete streets. The city is composed of strangers and familiar objects: the ubiquitous sidewalk, a slightly bent street pole, a bright orange traffic cone, or a broken-down bicycle left to rust. They all seem trivial and significant at the same time.
“When the bright sunlight hits the street, it sets the stage.”
'The City is a Choreography' was photographed between 2017 and 2020 in various cities around the world. An exploration that started with the urge to step out of my everyday life in the city. I felt the need to experience the urban environment, with both eyes and body, instead of merely perceiving it. I wanted to figure out how to connect meaningfully with our daily environment and the strangers we pass by. It was the boredom of walking the same route every day, seeing the same objects and the anonymous faces in the crowd, that made me start to see the city as a choreography.
“I felt the need to experience the urban environment, with both eyes and body, instead of merely perceiving it.”
When the bright sunlight hits the street, it sets the stage. Have you ever noticed that? The harsh shadows of the lantern are perfectly shaped to follow the lines of your body. The curved sidewalk fits your spine. The stranger and you become one while laying over a street pole. Can we transform the way we interact with the ordinary? Can we uncover a feeling of significance? Maybe we are not just observers – not passive city dwellers, but participants of a street scene.
“I wanted to figure out how to connect meaningfully with our daily environment and the strangers we pass by.”
About Melissa
Melissa Schriek is a Dutch photographer, she graduated from the photography department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2018. Since then she has worked on multiple personal projects such as The City is a Choreography, and commissioned works for various brands.
She explores relationships between individuals and their environment through both observation and staging. Her work is often created with a performative approach, aesthetically and conceptually exploring the border between staged and documentary photography. She perceives the camera as a powerful tool where fact and fiction can work together to explore modern, social issues.
Ultimately she wants her work to raise questions and about how we relate to one another and our personal environment.
To see more of her work, visit her website or follow her on Instagram
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