German photographer Menno Aden’s Room Portraits series reevaluates the structure of a room by presenting an aerial perspective that typically flattens the three-dimensional space, reversing the effects of construction. This act of taking a real room and photographically reverting its appearance into a stylized blueprint offers insight into not only the size and shape of the area, but the type of person who dwells or works within the space.
Aden’s intention with the works are to draw attention to the voyeuristic society we live in that is further perpetuated by pop culture. We are all like peeping Tom’s with a bird’s eye view, looking down at these intimate and personal spaces of people we don’t know. There is a sense of intrigue, trying to soak in every visible detail presented in the images, and then quick shift is made to assessing and forming judgements based solely on the visual cues.
