Since its development in the 19th century, the medium of photography has altered our sense of reality. Entrusted with capturing what we can see, the artist behind the camera has the power to alter that vision. Enter, optical illusion. Optical illusion photography is an impression of a visible object or phenomenon that is not appropriate to reality. An optical illusion of sight is purposefully photographed to make us take a closer look, examine the perspective and monitor how the eye and its trajectory is molded to the artist's intention. Often naturally occurring, these phenomena provide the perspective in photography to create optical illusion. It allows for volume and expressiveness in a picture, the impression of the depth of space that goes into the distance. Optical illusions in street art combined with photography can be found in our works, such as that of JR, whose staging of gigantic photo collages dot the urban landscape depicting individuals in black and white. His massive works demand your attention, being immense in both size and technique whilst the work of Charles Pétillon invades his photographs with clusters of white balloons to make the public view the world around them with a different eye - albeit guided by the artist…
