EXHIBIT
STATEMENT
Michael Itkoff
ARTIST STATEMENT
The Street Portraits project originated from a desire to subvert the hierarchy
created by celebrity photography and advertising. It consists of portraits taken
in five cities around the world since 2002: London, Sydney, Hanoi, Bangkok, and
New York. Billions are spent every year in order to show us the same faces and
products in clean, controlled studio settings. In response, I wanted to take a
piece of the studio or gallery wall and place it behind ordinary people in the
street.
While photographing in disparate urban settings the white board becomes
an equalizer, a negative space that unites the subjects while separating them
from their individual contexts."
-Michael Itkoff
© Michael Itkoff - All images