Silence in B-Flat I #20

by Shay Lari-Hosain

“In ‘Silence in B-Flat,’ by averaging hundreds of hand-selected exposures, I intervene in the temporal structure of the scenes, selectively including or erasing transient elements of night street landscapes—toggling positions of stoplights, illuminated windows, cars, and pedestrians. The images reconstruct a duration rather than depicting a single limited moment, and investigate localized histories of mediated public space. This process results in a wide tonal range and a distinct surreality, but more critically, lends itself to intimacy with place, and absorbs the occasionally fractious nature of embedding oneself in the fabric of public space—which can lead to a variety of interactions as people may perceive and move in front of the lens. The surreal rendering, appearing simultaneously authentic and yet unreal, raises instinctive questions about the veracity of the scene, and this ambiguity toys with the trust the viewer places in the images as a photographic record and emphasizes their subjectivity. As presented, the final scenes reconstruct time nonlinearly, creating new narratives.”