Bonet, SL.2015.0608 Chicago, 2015

Stray Light is a photographic project aimed at imaging the nocturnal urban landscape. We have all but lost our connection to the night sky in large, densely populated cities. In its place we find a new cosmos, one of luminous windows that dot the night sky in an ever-expanding field of light.

With the simple flip of a switch, a window is illuminated in the built environment, marking an individual’s presence in space. I capture the light that strays from these windows with my camera, building an archive for each city I photograph. I then pull from this archive, carefully constructing each finished image from multiple photographs. Using this process, I speak to essence of the nighttime, urban landscape, and reform it into my own vision – one that seeks to reconstruct the heavens in its absence above the cityscape.

Stray light from city windows references the unknown, providing the sense of mystery and awe that we once felt when gazing up at the stars. As we look upon this illuminated landscape, we realize the city itself has become our night sky.