This photographic project is aimed at helping people raise the awareness of their connectedness to each other so that they can create respect and effect positive changes in society. The project itself is an interactive tool that we can use to examine our current level of awareness to better understand how we are affecting society today.

Why could this be important? To answer that question we simply need to be more aware of two key concepts: 1) Human Evolution. 2) How we all contribute.

Human Evolution

A valid definition of evolution is: a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development in social structure. Therefore, human evolution would be the process of our ability to continually create peaceful and progressive changes in society.

As an individual understands his/her connection to the whole, he/she can make better decisions that create positive and productive results for the entire society, thereby furthering human evolution.

How we all contribute: Our Connection

Our connectedness to each other is deeper than just relationships, friendships, and passing glances on the streets. We are connected in such a way that the actions and intentions of a single person can radically affect the way our entire society evolves. Just as a single leaf atop a tree detects rays of sunlight and can send the signal to the rest of the leaves and branches on the entire tree to bend towards the light to continue the process of photosynthesis, so can the actions of one person rouse such a profound response in our entire society.

One of the reasons for this is that all of humanity makes up one entity. When we look at someone else, we are actually looking at ourselves. If you were to zoom out and take a look at all of the human beings on Earth, you would be looking at one living system. A good analogy to this is the human body; it is comprised of billions of cells that make up the one living entity that we get to experience our lives through.

This connection to each other is important because as we affect society, we also affect ourselves, and vice versa. By bringing this information into our conscious awareness, we can then become more productive in creating respect and positive change.

The Human Mirror

Traditionally we use mirrors to view ourselves to see how much we’ve grown as humans on the outside. However, in order to see the growth that has taken place inside ourselves, we need a mirror that’s not made from glass. When we look at someone we react in a certain way. That reaction tells us a lot about ourselves and where we are in our own self-evolution. In this sense we are actually looking at ourselves, as though we are gazing into a mirror.

How we react, feel, and respond to another person tells us what type of energy we are feeding into society. Are we giving out positive or negative energy most of the time? Are we accepting and respectful of others, or are we sending out energy of disapproval and disgust? We’re sending this energy out every day of our lives, and every day that energy is affecting the way we live our lives together as a society.

The Project as a Tool

This project and the photographs in it are specifically designed to bring the participant into a setting where certain questions can be asked and then utilized to examine where he/she is in their own self-evolution. Then, based on the answers, they can make intelligent decisions towards either changing or improving the way they contribute towards society and human evolution as a whole.

The photographs in this project are the mirrors in which to gaze upon to see ourselves react. As the participant looks at the photographs, they can simply ask some specific questions, such as:

When I look at this person, how do I react to their gender?
When I look at this person, how do I react to their nationality?

Then, by examining the answers to those questions, he/she can start to become more aware of what type of energy they are generating in society today.

Group Power

One of the main reasons behind designing this project was its potential to generate a greater effect in society. The more people in one area performing the same actions and mental processes, the greater the effect it has. Just as a larger rock dropped into water generates a stronger ripple effect than a smaller rock, the more people in one place focusing on creating respect and advancing human evolution generates an amplified energy that gets sent out into our society.

Individual Benefits

Other than helping the whole of society grow and evolve, a simple and pleasant byproduct of this project could be that we have yet another opportunity to enhance our own personal lives. The more we can recognize the connections and energy exchanges we have with everyone else around us, the more we can grow to respect others because of those connections and energy exchanges. At the heart of humanity we’re all in this together. The more we respect one another, the more we respect ourselves.