"Published by Formist Editions, 'Bodybuilding: Flâneuring the strangely familiar' is the debut photobook of multidisciplinary artist and photographer Melanie Cobham, tracing her early years in Melbourne after relocating from Uruguay just before the pandemic. The photographs reflect the perspective of the modern-day flâneur, observing and examining her surroundings with an intentional sense of detachment. This perspective enabled Cobham to immerse herself in a city suspended in an unusual stillness."
"Created in a time marked by isolation, Cobham utilised photography to observe, make sense of, and connect with her new surroundings. The resulting book presents a quiet, contemplative portrait of Melbourne's urban landscape, largely devoid of people yet rich with fleeting details, surreal reflections, and striking architectural forms. What emerges is an introspective and poetic meditation on place, transforming solitude into a space for curiosity and wonder."
Melanie Cobham's Bodybuilding captures Melbourne through 35mm documentary and street photography, presenting a contemplative yet playful portrait of urban life. The series portrays themes of displacement and belonging from the perspective of an outsider who relocated from Uruguay just before the pandemic. Images often lack people and emphasize fleeting details, surreal reflections, and striking architectural forms. The work channels the modern-day flâneur, using intentional detachment to observe a city suspended in unusual stillness. Solitude becomes a space for curiosity and wonder, and the project reframes migratory experience as a nuanced search for belonging amid an increasingly uncanny urban world.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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