Human° is a personnel project of both Arian Camilleri (photographer) and Rodney White (painter). We started this project as a way to change the approach to portrait photography and give the subject a voice. The idea is to give the subject a chance to change the meaning or the interpretation of the photograph by adding their own words directly to the photo. By doing this the photo then becomes a three way process. We see this project spanning years and becoming a timeline of sorts. Ultimately this project could span decades and become thousands of portraits. We ambitiously envision this project to document the human race and give each person a moment to connect with the viewer. Even though this project is only in its infancy we see this as an important project as I don't think anything like this has ever been done. We may not photograph ever person but we sure would like to try.
Here is our artist statement:
From birth humans are guided to think in particular ways. We are programmed by our peers and elders to approach everything around us based upon how others have. Without hesitation or too many questions asked, we become products of our environment, thinking thoughts others have thought up for us and before us. Stereotypes are formed and are perpetuated by the ever increasing media centric world that we live in.
We see images of celebrities, politicians or even the person walking by and we draw conclusions about them based on what we observe, often times based on little to no communication. You walk by people you don't know, acting like cars in passing, slowing down just enough to not collide. You look and wonder what their thoughts are - when often you're not even sure what your own are, and you move on.
What if these images of celebrities, politicians or even the person walking by tells you with a few words what they want you to know or feel or even sense by looking at them? These few words can draw you closer or push you further apart. People who are either alike or different from you based on how the story they tell connects with you.
Through the collaboration of photographer, artist, the subject and their words, a dialogue is started and the degrees of human separation become closer. It's a process that transforms us from just people into human beings with stories.
Human° was created by Arian Camilleri and Rodney White, two artists of different disciplines with an ambitious but possible goal. Bring humans together 1° at a time.
