The Lovers (no.5)
Düsseldorf-based photographer Hemya Moran, who previously recreated stock romantic images with strangers, explores intimacy and relationships in her series ‘Intimate Strangers’.
Moran first approached random strangers to request an “intimate acquaintance” with her, before staging scenarios in their personal spaces, which ranged from living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms.
Through her brief interactions with her subjects, she created private moments that feel familiar and personal, yet unnatural and false.
Posing as a daughter, mother, wife, sister and lover, each exchange speaks to the human desire for closeness and connection.
“In every encounter I stage an intimate moment, an artificial acquaintance. I’m looking for affection in estranged environments, occupying a contradicting position both distant and involved, repulsed and attracted, feeling a sense of belonging and of loneliness all at once, affection experiencing both empathy and a struggle of domination,” Moran states in her project description.
Check out some photographs below and view the rest of her series here.
The Beloved Daughter (no.1)
Sisters (no.2)
Second Date
Picnic (no.2)
Sisters (no.7)
Mother and Wife (no.1)
The Girlfriend (no.2)
[via Feature Shoot, images via Hemya Moran]