Wiadomość o przyjeździe HONY do Warszawy ukazała się na fanpage’u projektu w piątek.

Mało tego – stanowiła ona zarazem ogłoszenie o pracę. Poszukiwany jest tłumacz, który pomoże zebrać historie sfotografowanych osób. Być może to idealna oferta dla kogoś z was?

Choć biorąc pod uwagę zainteresowanie, jakie budzi ten post – w ciągu 30 minut zebrał prawie 1000 lajków, 116 komentarzy i udostępniło go 85 osób – można przypuszczać, że skrzynka mailowa HONY pęka w szwach i być może znalazł się już ten szczęśliwiec, czyli odpowiedni kandydat do pracy. Tymczasem pozostaje niemniej ważna funkcja – bohaterów zdjęć.

Nie wiemy, czy będą oni dobierani według jakiegoś odgórnie ustalonego klucza, ale na wszelki wypadek – nie zapomnijcie się przed wyjściem z domu uczesać!

Humans of New York to chyba najpopularniejszy projekt fotograficzny na świecie. Pierwotnym zamysłem jego twórcy – Brandona Stantona – było stworzenie obszernego, bo liczącego 10 tysięcy osób, katalogu zdjęć mieszkańców Nowego Jorku.

Z czasem jednak fotograf zaczął coraz więcej rozmawiać z bohaterami swoich zdjęć i poznawać ich historie, marzenia a nawet największe sekrety. Wyciągnięte z nich cytaty stały się nieodłącznym elementem prezentowanych zdjęć.

 

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“I used heroin for ten years. It wasn’t a very good life, as you’d expect. I had my son taken from me. I lost my job at the Fiat factory. I spent all my time trying to find money, find dealers, and stay away from police. I hated myself. I couldn’t face anyone. Then one day my friend’s dog had puppies. I’d never had a dog before, but I always liked animals– so I told him to give me the smallest and ugliest one he had. The one nobody else wanted. And that’s how I got Joe. Joe was the angel of my life. We understood each other. There was no need for words. He followed me around all the time. He slept next to me on the street. The moment I opened my eyes in the morning he would lick my face. He gave me self-esteem. I was a complete loser but at least I could take care of Joe. I could bring him to the park. I could bring him to the vet. I could raise enough money to get his medication. He’s the reason I was finally able to quit heroin. Because if something happened to me, what would happen to him? So I got clean. It was hard but I got clean. Joe lived for another thirteen years. He got a tumor in 2012 and held on a few more months. I barely survived it. I was able to stay off drugs, but I promised myself that I’d never get another dog. It’s just too painful. But two years ago I found Leica beneath a mobile home. She was all skin and bones. She’d been abandoned. I didn’t have a choice. For the first few months I called her Joe. But I had to stop. Because Joe’s gone. And the name doesn’t really matter, anyway. It just matters that I love her.” (Rome, Italy)

Post udostępniony przez Humans of New York (@humansofny) Cze 3, 2019 o 12:10 PDT

 

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“We really tried to avoid it. We tried. He was my boss. We worked at an important law firm with very serious people. Things like this were forbidden. But it was a high pressure environment and we worked long hours together. There were a lot of conversations. A lot of meals. And eventually we became very good friends. One weekend he came with me to visit my hometown in Galicia. It’s a small fisherman village. My entire family lives there. And that’s where my sister laid a trap. She knew the situation. I didn’t even tell her, but she sensed it. She pulled Javier aside and told him: ‘Take a step, man. Barbara is waiting on this.’ That night we were walking back from dinner. It was foggy and rainy. We stopped in the middle of the street, and he kissed me. I said: ‘Oh God, Barbara. You have a problem.’ I was twenty-six. I was supposed to be jumping from daisy to daisy. It wasn’t time to fall in love. Especially not with my boss. We spent the night together, and the following morning we went to a family meal in the countryside. Everyone was there: my aunts, uncles, everyone. Thirty-five people at a long stone table. And the moment we walked in— all of them started clapping.” (Barcelona, Spain)

Post udostępniony przez Humans of New York (@humansofny) Maj 22, 2019 o 8:55 PDT

Obecnie, czyli po ok. 10 latach od rozpoczęcia projektu, stał się on rozpoznawalny na całym świecie. Mimo zachowania pierwotnej nazwy – Humans of New York – Stanton przemierza z aparatem cały świat.

Pokazuje nie tylko zwykłe życie mieszkańców różnych państw, ale też czasem tworzy serie, które otwierają odbiorcom oczy na społeczności dotknięte trudną sytuacją życiową.

Na jego blogu można znaleźć, m.in.: cykle zdjęć o dzieciach chorych na raka, uchodźcach czy żyjących w Ameryce Syryjczykach.

 

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“I just finished medical school. Now I’m heading to residency, which is supposed to be even tougher. I’ve been working sixteen-hour days. Then I’m expected to study every night when I get home. Some of my classmates only sleep three hours per night. I tried that for a few months during my surgery rotation, but I ended up getting really depressed. I felt completely depersonalized. Everything seemed like a dream. To make matters worse, a lot of the instructors are jerks. I think they went through hell when they were students, so they feel like they should put us through hell. On the first day of rotations, my attending physician told me: ‘I’m an asshole, but I’ll make you a better doctor.’ He made fun of me in front of other students. He put me down in front of patients. He’d threaten to kick me out every day. I guess they’re trying to weed people out and make strong doctors. But they’re just traumatizing people. They’re making us apathetic. I got into medicine because I really wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. But after going through hell, I just don’t care anymore.”

Post udostępniony przez Humans of New York (@humansofny) Gru 14, 2018 o 3:07 PST

 

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(1/3) “The genocide was an opportunity to get rich. Murdering people was the quickest way to accumulate wealth. We were given permission from the government to seize the property of anyone we killed. We were told it was our god given right. But I never felt the temptation. My family owned a very big supermarket. I had my own car. When the killings began in 1994, I had a scholarship to study in Greece and I was just waiting to begin university. My stepfather was Vice President of our region, so we had four bodyguards in the house. These guys were highly trained with automatic weapons. They became good friends of mine. I’d take them to the bar every night. I’d drive them around and buy them anything they wanted. They were also good human beings. One night over drinks we discussed the genocide, and all of us decided: ‘We’re going to put an end to this in our neighborhood.’ The next morning I woke up to my neighbor screaming. I looked out the window and saw that he’d been surrounded by a mob with machetes, and was bleeding badly from the head. I’d been friends with him since childhood. So I sent my bodyguards to save him. The machetes were no match for our guns. Word spread quickly after that. Tutsi families came to our compound seeking refuge. I took long walks with my bodyguards every morning, looking for people to save. We drove to surrounding farms and searched the fields for survivors. At one point we had seventy people under our protection. Nobody challenged us. I was young and cocky. I thought we were untouchable.” (Kigali, Rwanda)

Post udostępniony przez Humans of New York (@humansofny) Paź 21, 2018 o 10:17 PDT

 

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“We have to keep our relationship secret. Our parents would not approve and we’re not courageous enough to tell them yet. So we meet in secret three or four times per month. Since the beginning of our relationship, we’ve shared a diary. We take turns keeping it. Whoever has it will write down our memories. They’ll also write down what they want from the other person, and how they feel misunderstood. Then every time we meet—we hand it off.” (Calcutta, India)

Post udostępniony przez Humans of New York (@humansofny) Sty 22, 2018 o 1:11 PST

Magia jego prac polega na tym, że te zdjęcia wraz z opowiedzianą przez bohaterów historią pokazują, że zwyczajni przechodnie mijani przez nas codziennie w drodze do pracy, mogą okazać się niezwykle ciekawymi ludźmi.

A smutne historie i doświadczenia, z których zwierzają się Stantonowi ludzie, to niesamowita i bardzo ważna lekcja empatii wobec nieznajomego człowieka.

Jesteśmy niezmiernie ciekawi jak się zaprezentują w ramach tego projektu Humans of Warsaw. Tymczasem projekt Brandona Stantona możecie śledzić na bieżąco na Facebooku, Instagramie oraz na jego blogu.

Źródło zdjęć głównych: Instagram Humans of New York
Tekst: Kinga Dembińska