Within paintings there’s no end to the things you can do with the body and this has pushed me to see restrictions within reality differently.
— Arielle Bobb-Willis
Arielle Bobb-Willis was born in New York, with periods spent in South Carolina and New Orleans. For nearly ten years, she has used the camera as a tool of empowerment. Having struggled with depression from an early age, she found solace behind the lens and developed a visual language that expresses the complexities of life: beauty, strangeness, belonging, isolation, and connection.
Inspired by masters such as Jacob Lawrence and Benny Andrews, Bobb-Willis brings a “painterly” quality to her photographs by depicting subjects in awkward, disjointed poses that emphasize these same complexities. Positioned between fashion and contemporary art, her use of vivid, striking colours carries a therapeutic dimension, reflecting a desire to reclaim power and joy in moments of sadness, confusion, or confinement.
Her photographs are taken in both urban and rural environments across the United States—from south to north, east to west. Bobb-Willis travels the country in search of a sense of “home” in every grassy mound or urban sidewalk, reminding us of the importance of staying connected and grounded during life’s transitions.