“Street photography has never been a classic genre defined by a narrow set of rules nor by a small number of artists and photographers,” explains Nadine Wietlisbach, writer, curator and Director of Fotomuseum Winterthur. Human life is captured daily by street photographers in towns and cities across the world. Artists such as Joel Meyerowitz, Viviene Maier and Saul Leiter have taken ever-changing architecture and the fast pace of city life as their subject, creating works that blend the ancient and the modern to capture the vast scope of contemporary society. Here we explore the work of five artists who are pushing the boundaries of street photography, using colour, light and perspective to take the genre in new directions.
Marco Wilm
Blue tones, dark shadows and built structures are hallmarks of Marco Wilm’s visual style. The Berlin-based image-maker captures “the quiet tension between people and architecture,” drawing on elements of street photography, fine art and minimalism. For Wilm, buildings are central protagonists, lending clean lines, curves, reflections and scale to compositions. Figures, often depicted in silhouette, emerge from neon-lit tunnels, cross towering bridges or become overshadowed by huge urban constructions. Meanwhile, people climb winding staircases that lead to dark voids, or stare into clouds through huge glass panes. The shots are candid and unposed, capturing “the raw authenticity and the unpredictability of life in public spaces.”
marcowilmphotography.com | @marco.wilm
So AsA
Based on the small, Mediterranean island of Corsica, So AsA’s main inspiration comes from busy street activity. The artist began to build up a portfolio of silhouettes, having originally shot in black and white. When the sun hits buildings, passers-by are thrown into anonymity. Colours burst against the illuminated walls in bright oranges, yellows and reds. Meanwhile, shadows outline strangers as they walk amongst the buildings. Using only an iPhone, So AsA examines the everyday through a new lens, cradling the shadows of city-goers, parents, children and lone wanderers. The work celebrates the energy from a bustling town whilst maintaining a sense of distance, providing an impression of a given moment.
Aleksander Małachowski
Aleksander Małachowski (b. 1994) is a Warsaw-based artist, working at the intersection of photography, geometry and symmetry. His minimal images focus on the spaces that we inhabit, walk through, climb up and nestle into often without even thinking about it. The images move around architecture like a surveillance camera. The angles are unexpected, and the viewer remains constantly at a distance. Zooming out of view, staircases, pathways and Brutalist balconies begin to appear like model constructions. They present the characteristics of a new, urbanised world not unlike the projected descriptions in High Rise. The works evoke a sense of vertigo as viewers hover above the buildings.
Senay Berhe
Photographers are often characterised by a talent for finding “the beauty in the mundane.” Self-taught filmmaker and artist Senay Berhe (b. 1979) is guided by this concept. They are adept at picking out details from the messiness of everyday life, zooming in on things that might otherwise go unnoticed amidst the hustle and bustle. Many of his works have emerged from simple settings – taken on the way to, or from, his home in Stockholm. Lampposts glow against deep red skies. Window blinds – cropped in close – form geometric shapes against the clouds. These are quiet and unassuming scenarios, where even telephone poles are given close attention. Berhe’s goal is for us to see something of own lives in the compositions.
Satijn Panyigay
Architecture is Satijn Panyigay’s (b. 1988) subject of choice. The Dutch-Hungarian photographer creates brooding images of empty museums, homes under construction, buildings during renovation and out-of-hours offices. These shadowy, analogue scenes, devoid of people and temporarily detached from their function, often resemble paintings or models. Light sources are rare yet effective, bleeding through windows or doorways at the edges of the frame. Panyigay also depicts exteriors, as witnessed during solitary nocturnal strolls through her hometown of Utrecht and Frankfurt am Main. The work invites viewers into an enigmatic after-dark world, where familiar sights take on brand new meanings.
satijnpanyigay.com | @satijnpanyigay
Subscribe to Aesthetica & Save 50% in September | Click Here to Shop All Issues.
Words: Sophie Bullivant
Image Credits:
1. Image courtesy of Aleksander Malachowski.
2. Marco Wilm, Winding Staircase, Luxembourg, July 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.
3. Marco Wilm, Blue Skywalk, Aarhus, January 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.
4. So AsA. Shot in Corsica on iPhone. Courtesy of the artist.
5. So AsA. Shot in Corsica on iPhone. Courtesy of the artist.
6. Image courtesy of Aleksander Malachowski.
7. Image courtesy of Aleksander Malachowski.
8. Image courtesy Senay Berhe.
9. Image courtesy Senay Berhe.
10. Satijn Panyigay, Afterglow 03, (2019). Image courtesy of the artist.
11. Satijn Panyigay, Afterglow 02, (2019). Image courtesy of the artist.
