Issue 10 March 2011
Quantum
people walking by them on the street–just to hold their gaze a little bit longer, give a warm smile. It would be something spectacular to witness. For a short moment everyone would be connected. Sort of like the team that wins at football, when they win and everyone is together on the same team and feeling connected.
Q
What do you hope people see when they look at the photo of the Face of Humanity? What are you hoping to accomplish?
I hope they are pleasantly surprised! I see it basically as a portrait of the essence of humanity. It’s interesting to know that the shape and form of the face became what it is after only a few photos were merged, maybe only 50 photos. As I kept adding photos on top and on top and on top, it stayed the same basically but it became clearer and clearer and clearer. And for me, I see a very positive image. Behind us all is this face, this person. And this person to me seems very balanced and compassionate and present. I would have to say that this image represents not just the average looking person but for me it’s like seeing the soul of all of humanity, or the face of our common inner voice. Some people might even say that if God made humans in the image of himself (or herself!), then this is the first ever portrait of God!
But really, I don’t know what I hope other people see. I guess the same thing... the essence of humanity, that inside there is this beautiful person. If we all can somehow connect... You know in this picture there are people who are ugly, beautiful, whatever. Many different-looking people, and together they are all beautiful. You know what I am trying to say? If humanity connects, becomes one, we are all really, really beautiful people in our essence.
Q
How did people respond when you asked them to have their portrait taken to possibly be included in the Face of Humanity?
Very, very, very interested. Well, most people didn’t believe it! I had a little poster I made to explain to people why I wanted to take their photograph. I
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made a little dummy photo, merging about ten men and ten women. And when I showed them what it was, at first they didn’t understand. Then when I explained they were very, very excited. So I got a really positive response.
However, the funny thing is that on a personal level people find it really interesting, but on a commercial level or a corporate level–like the Red Cross or world organisations that I approached here in Denmark–they were silent. I sent out so many hundreds of emails and press releases and so forth to show this average face of the human race and it just hasn’t been... there hasn’t been the same interest by commercial organisations as when I am talking to a person one on one. When I show a person, they go ‘Wow, wow! That’s beautiful. That looks like someone I know’. I always get a positive response. But the media in Denmark is not interested–only one magazine was. I haven’t sent it out much beyond Denmark. I have it and International Eye Contact Day on Facebook but there hasn’t been much response there either. The interest has been on a personal, one-on-one level.
I am about to launch a new project called the Face of the US. It’s a three-month tour of the US starting this May. I call it the Eye Spotting US tour, during which I will photograph a representative sampling of the ethnicities that make up the United States, the nation of immigrants. I will use the same technique of having them look at the spot in the camera, focusing on their left eye, so that all the portraits will be the same form. Then I will average the photos of males and females separately to make the female and male faces of the US, and then merge those two composites to make the Face of the USA. I will be producing a book on that, with all the images–312, because that is one-millionth of the total US population of 312 million–that I hope to have out by the end of 2011. I am very excited about this project and am now working on sorting out the itinerary, which states and cities I will be photographing people in. People can find out more on my website
www.trood.dk. I’ll soon post my itinerary of where I am going to look for people to photograph and also blogs during the tour.
Quantum Health 11
HEALTH
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