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Arielle Bobb-Willis

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Born and raised in New York City, photographer Arielle Bobb-Willis discovered the camera in her early years.  What started as a playful pastime soon became a way of tapping into a powerful tool for self-empowerment. Challenged frequently by crippling depressive tendencies, she began using her camera as an antidote to her fluctuating moods, thereby creating a consistent visual language that simultaneously tapped into the familiar, the strange, and her desire for connection in the face of overwhelming feelings of isolation. Capturing people in lyrically compromising and disjointed positions reveals a consciousness of shared complex emotions, reminding us that we are never alone, even when we think we are. In contrast, her curated infatuation with vividly bright colors is meant to elicit powerful feelings of positivity and joy. The result is a world where the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, the connected and the disconnected conjoin into an existence grounded in contentment. 

 

In a review of Bobb-Willis’ work shown at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center’s annual Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Deborah Krieger likens Bobb-Willis’ artistic intention to what NYTimes best-selling author Jenny Lawson describes as “furiously happy” in her cult-favorite book by the same name––

“Sometimes we walk in sunlight with everyone else.  Sometimes, we live underwater and fight and grow. And sometimes… sometimes we fly.”

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Arielle’s first monograph, Keep the Kid Alive, was published by Aperture in the fall of 2024.  She is currently based in Los Angeles.