For the past decade, Franco-Iranian photographer Clémence Polès Farhang has approached women she encounters by chance—on public transit, sidewalks, in cafés—and asked a simple, direct question: Can I come over and take your picture?

This gesture of radical attention is the starting point of Passerby, an ongoing photographic and oral archive that has documented more than 300 women across New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, and beyond since 2015.

In the comfort and privacy of their homes, Polès Farhang photographs her subjects and conducts extended interviews, asking about morning routines, childhood memories, relationships, beauty rituals, favorite books, and the narratives they tell about themselves. The project refuses extraction in favor of sustained attention: each portrait emerges from hours spent listening, looking, and allowing unsaid truths to surface.

The exhibition brings together portraits shot on film from this decade-long project, exploring what it means for women to be seen and heard on their own terms. It offers an alternative gaze—one rooted in tenderness, curiosity, and the conviction that every woman's interior life deserves deep attention.

The photographs on view refuse the anonymous gaze of street photography. Each portrait is shaped by conversation, negotiated access, and the crossing of a threshold—from public to private space, from stranger to participant. The domestic interiors are not mere backdrops but active participants in the portraits, revealing how women construct meaning and selfhood through the spaces they inhabit.

Raised between France and the United Arab Emirates, Polès Farhang brings a diasporic sensibility to her work. Passerby documents women across axes of class, race, nationality, and circumstance—revealing not a single story of womanhood, but the quiet architectures of survival, resilience, and daily life that each woman builds from the conditions available to her.

FEATURED PORTRAITS

Abby Pucker | Adette Contreras | Alaa Balkhy | Alex Vaughn | Alison Roman | Allison Escoto | Alyssa Coscarelli | Amanda Weeks | Amy Quichiz | Ana Kraš | Anahita Tajmaher | Anastasia Patellis | Andrea Toscano | Angelina Venezia | Anita Bertolini | Aretha Sack | Arpana Rayamajhi | Atafeh Karimi | Bambou Roger-Kwong | Beata Kanter | Berna Bilgin | Beth Garrabrant | Beverly Nguyen | Bianca Valle | BriAnne Wills | Caitlin McMullen | Camille Bertrand | Cara Flaherty | Carolina Santos-Neves | Carrie Schaff | Cassie Marketos | Celine Semaan | Charlotte Hundley | Charlotte Lindèn Ercoli | Chloe Dewberry | Christina Coleman | Claire MacDonald | Colline Laninga | Connie Gao | Courtney Preiss | Dana Bodourov | Danny Malave | Daryl Oh | Deepica Mutyala | DeNeita Watson | Diana Yen | Dianna Cohen | Domino Kirke | Donna Baxter | Donna Servideo | Eden Grinshpan | Elizabeth Novogratz | Elle Mckenzie | Ellen Van Dusen | Ellis Jones | Emily DiDonato | Emily Theobald | Emma Ramos | Erika Spring | Erin Allweiss | Eva Goichochea | Fariha Róisín | Fatima Jones | Folasade Adeoso | Gaby Ron | Gabrielle Herbst | Gisue Hariri | Grace Micelli | Grace Yi Tang | Haley Nahman | Hallie Gould | Heba Kadry | Helen Levi | Helen Radulovic | Hiba Abid | Holly Falcone | Holly Mitchell | Huong Dodinh | Isabel Sandoval | J Wortham | Janelle Anne | Janine Lee | Jasmine Imani | Jasmyn Story | Jenn Tardif | Jenna Rosenberg | Jill Singer | Jo Rosenthal | Josephine Hack | Kaitlin Philips | Katie Garcia | Katy Hallowell | Kavi Moltz | Kayla Tanenbaum | Kaylan Rexer | Kelsey Garcia | Kifah Shah | Kimberley Ho | Kristi Garced | Laura Brown | Laura Helms | Lauren Caruso | Lauren Nikrooz | Lauren Servideo | Laurie Simmons | Leah Faria | Leslie Hamilton | Leta Sobierajski | Lexi Cunningham | Lexii Foxx | Liana Satenstein | Lindsey Mills | Lisa Mayock | Lisa Przystup | Ly Ngo | Lynette Nylander | Lyudmila Koltonyuk | Maayan Zilberman | Mahen Bonneti | Mandisa Wright | Mari Andrew | Maria Gonzalez | Marion Lange | Marjon Carlos | Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter | Maryam Mortaz | Maura Walters | McKenzie Wark | Melissa Flashman | Mimi Packer | Mina Juhn | Mindy Seu | Mira Moore | Miyako Bellizzi | Mo Mullen | Molly Beth Young | Molly Surno | Momo Ishiguro | Monica Paolini | Monique Lalane | Nadia Bedzhanova | Naiylah Warren | Naïlat Salama Djae and Salimata Ali Chahidi | Naomi Fry | Nasim Alikhani | Nat Guevara | Natalia Mantini | Natalie Pace | Naura Keiser | Niat Amare | Nicole Steriovski | Nina Lorez Collins | Nina Roth | Noemie Le Coz | Olivia Fleming | Paige Polk | Pamela Garavano-Coolbaugh | Paris Smith | Peisin Yang Lazo | Rachel Cabitt | Rachel Howe | Rachel Tashjian | Rachael Yaeger | Ramona Shayegani | Rawan Rihani | Rebecca Boorstin | Rian Fossett | Rita McMahon | Rose | Sabrina Diaz | Sam Giordano | Sam Tarter | Sandi Marx | Sara Flowers | Sara Haile | Sara Radin | Sarah Eaton | Sarah Kinlaw | Sarah Vinciguerra | Shirin Neshat | Shino Takeda | Shruti Naik | Steph Krasnoff | Sue Williamson | Sukey Novogratz | Sunny Shorkae | Susan Alexandra | Sybil Domond | Syvan Mandel | Tamara Santibanez | Tea Hacic-Vlahovic | Tiana Rainford | Tina Bhojwani | Verena Michelitsch | Verena Von Pfetten | Virginia Chang | Yousra Elbagir | Ysa Perez | Zahra Bennani | Zan Goodman | Zara Rahim | Zoe Beyer

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Clémence Polès Farhang (B. 1989; Nice, France) is a Franco-Iranian photographer based in New York City. Raised in Sharjah and Dubai, her work focuses on identity, memory, and cultural exchange, often through the everyday lives of women. She founded passerby in 2015 as a long-term portrait and oral history project. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Mother Tongue, FAR–NEAR, Acacia, and Anyone Girl.