By Lisanne Cheizoo
Business Manager
Imagine taking a stroll through the streets of Middelburg on any given day. After your lovely walk, a friend comes up to you and asks you to describe the people you have seen; not a fellow UCR-student, but someone you do not know, an inhabitant of Middelburg. Rather difficult, you might say, because how often do you actually pay attention to the people around you? Imagine that instead of only vaguely seeing the people passing by, you could have a portrait of each and every one of them. A portrait, with a snippet of information about that person’s life added to it. A quirky little detail about their lives or some wisdom they shared with you. In this way, you get to know the stories behind the faces. See a bit of the people living in Middelburg. This idea is at the core of a recent exposition done by UCR students, called “Humans of Middelburg.”
Inspired by the famous Tumblr blog “Humans of New York”, Humans of Middelburg is a social-photography collaborative project done by Phora, PUMA, the Sustainability Committee and ArtCo. The main aim of the project was to connect the local Middelburg population with the student population, by sending students onto the streets to talk with the local people of Middelburg. What sets Humans of Middelburg apart from other photography projects is its portraits; they strive to be more than just portraits by providing a little look into someone’s life. All of them are accompanied by small stories or quotes, and provide depth to the portraits. You could call it a little close-up of someone’s life.
Members of ArtCo and the Sustainability Committee made the photo frames, which added another layer to this project: it did not only connect UCR students with the local population, but also students with students. The exposition took place in Gallerij ‘T’ and showed thirty-two pictures of citizens of Middelburg. Unfortunately, the exposition only ran for a week and is already closed.
However, there are plenty of these so-called “Humans of [insert city name]” projects on the Internet, featuring cities from all over the world. The original ‘Humans of…’, Humans of New York, has already gathered more than 5,000 portraits and provide a colorful insight into New York’s locals. If New York does not float your boat, you can also check out some of the spinoffs, like Humans of Paris, Humans of Amsterdam or Humans of Asia.
Overall, “Humans of Middelburg” is a great example of how committees, students and locals can work together and learn from one another. There is a story behind every face and these stories deserve to be told. This creative collaboration has certainly created more awareness among locals, and maybe in the future, more projects like these will surface!
Lisanne Cheizoo, class of 2015, is a Literature and Theatre & Media Studies major from Uden, The Netherlands.
