Sophie Calle

In my tutorial, I was told to look at the artist and photographer Sophie Calle.

Image from Getty Images

Calle is a French writer, photographer, installation artist and conceptual artist. Her work examines identity and intimacy, which in turn depicts human vulnerability. Calle often goes under cover to achieve her work- 'she is recognised for her detective-like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private life'. Her work actually leaves you feeling quite disturbed and uneasy at how easy it is to be followed without even noticing!

Here are some examples of Calle's work:

This is from her project entitled 'The Sleepers'. Calle placed an advert in her local paper where she offered her bed to her friends and strangers for 8 full days. She would take photographers of the people occupying her bed, and make notes of the process every hour. Calle is fascinated by the interface between our public life and our private life, and this is a great example of her exploring this idea. 

Here, Calle set up a hidden camera at a cash machine. She documented a process that is usually very private- she captured expressions that normally would not be displayed. They varied from happiness, sadness, anger and surprise. Pure human emotion that has not been dramatised for the effect of the camera.

The information for this post was sourced from Wikipedia and books on the artist Sophie Calle.