Aristotle Roufanis

Alone Together XII

2019

Since 2016, Roufanis has been creating high-resolution images of urban landscapes that offer the viewer an intimate look into the lives of the city’s inhabitants. The project Alone Together stems from Aristotle Roufanis’ own experience when he lived in London. A metropolis such as London, which has so many possibilities to offer, allowed him to see the pervasive problem of social isolation and individualism. At times he felt a sense of loneliness: “How is it possible to feel alone in a city with millions of people?” This was the starting point for Roufanis’ visual investigation into this ‘epidemic of modern society’. “The city does not release us from loneliness, and the countryside does not give it to us; the loneliness is within ourselves.”- Joseph Roux Cities such as Paris, Athens, London, Hong Kong and Miami are captured from high-rise buildings or hills on the basis of extensive observations from sunrise to sunset, during an hour-long process. Through images that are intertwined, a highly detailed representation of the urban landscapes is created that makes the viewer step into a hyper-reality. The complexity of modern life and the silence that you can find in chaos form the basis of Roufani’s work. Your personal space, which can sometimes be unavoidably and painfully public, is where you can relax and reflect on your position in the world. Roufanis has always been interested in the architecture and raw size of large cities that reveal this, and these themes come together in a masterfully refined way in Alone Together. Aristotle Roufanis has exhibited at the CAFA Museum in Beijing, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa and the Depo Darm Contemporary Art Space in Athens, among others. His photo works are included in the collection of the Royal Academy in London and in various private collections in London, Paris, Miami, Dubai and New York.