Someone in my car | Violette Bule

Art League Houston (ALH) is proud to present Someone in my car, an exhibition by Houston-based artist Violette Bule. Someone in my car invites the viewer to consider the duality of the usually anonymous interactions of ride-sharing from the perspectives of both passenger and driver. In a car-based city like Houston, residents and visitors without a personal vehicle rely more and more on strangers to drive them to and from their destinations. This installation of work captures Bule’s year-long performance as a ride-share driver, transforming her lived experience as a contemporary flaneur into works of art for an exhibition that includes photographic portraits of her passengers, videos of the city, and audio clips of conversations she overheard while driving.

Bule is interested in pushing the boundary between art and life, amplifying vulnerability as a potential form of empowerment. Starting the job out of economic necessity, she began photographing her passengers. This work takes those interactions as a point of departure and invites the viewer to add their experiences to the project by signing up to schedule a ride-share with the artist, extending the participatory nature of the exhibition.