Anonymity has been an intriguing concept for ASA since they first took up photography. They shot this image in their home town of Bastia, on the French island of Corsica. This was 2018, in the height of summer, “when the sun was at its strongest. I like working when the light is very strong and the facades are burned by the sun,” ASA says. “Shadows fall very sharply, shapes become clearer, colours become stronger and people turn into silhouettes.”
After positioning themselves unobtrusively on one side of the street with their iPhone X, ASA waited patiently for some time as strangers passed through their frame. “This woman was walking with a certain lightness, almost cheerful. When I looked again afterwards, I had the feeling she might be going to an appointment, maybe even a romantic one. But at the time, I simply saw a young woman moving, carried by her own energy.”
ASA adds that they are never searching for a specific person or story, “only for a presence to pass through the light. What matters most is the shape, the movement and the contrast. I think the work speaks without needing identity, and I hope it leaves space for people’s imagination. I like it when people project their own story on to a photograph. We are almost all of us anonymous silhouettes in the street.”
