Photographer Astrid Reischwitz is interested in capturing “street art” in urban environments and the reactions to the art by people passing by.

A series of her photographs, Street Art, is featured at the Griffin Museum at Aberjona River Gallery in Winchester, MA, February 29 through May 13. An opening reception with the artist is April 24, 6-7:30 p.m.

“Street art is an art form brought directly to the viewer, in many cases without any prior selection by curators, art critics or the media,” Reischwitz says. “In composing each photograph I position myself near existing street art, often in lonely, urban areas, and then wait for people to walk by.”

“Through their reactions or lack of reaction to the artworks they become both viewers of and participants in an art making process. The people in these pieces become a part of an art event themselves,” she adds.

Reischwitz says that by choosing the specific street art in its unique, if out of the way, location, “I maintain a degree of control over the process while having no control over the people or actions that will become an inherent part of the photograph.”

She uses a slow shutter speed “to underscore the fragile and transient character of the artwork, as well as people passing by.” And, she says, “Ripped paper or the application of paint over the original art work documents traces of former interactions with the art by unknown participants and shows another layer of art mediated by urban life.”

Reischwitz, a native of Germany, graduated from the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany, with a degree in chemistry.

Soon after moving to the United States, she pursued her passion for photography and enrolled in the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York where she focused on black and white photography, studying with Nancy Sirkis and Bernard Palais.

Further studies include Street Photography and Documentary Photography at the New England School of Photography with Bill Franson and Michael Hintlian. She is a resident of Bedford, MA.