Directly inspired by “Humans of New York“, which is known for its immense worldwide success and numerous variations, the project “Humans of Glion” aims to create and publish on social networks a photo blog highlighting the people studying and working in Glion. Student Ambassador and MSc student, Clotilde Fonteny, explains the inspiration behind the project.
“Composed of portraits photos and information about the life of the person, the project was created by Student Ambassadors and shows our school in its entirety, in a human and multicultural dimension. The diversity of these faces testifies to the extreme diversity of our origins, one of the major strengths of Glion.”
The Glion Family
“The institutional dimension of the project is, therefore, to communicate and highlight the school on an axis other than excellence and recognition of the professional environment. To present ourselves as a coherent human entity and strong in its diversity.”
“For prospective students, it is also a way to prepare themselves for their future academic semester in Glion, become familiar with faculty and get information on their future environment. We want to allow them to take part in our Glion Family even before joining.”
Everyone can participate
“This project is initiated as part of the Ambassador program, but is aimed at the entire Glion community. Everyone is able to participate by taking photos of their friends and sending them with a short description to be posted on the Instagram page of Glion. Ambassadors are in charge of this project and they are the ones posting the photos.”
Highlighting the human
“The 20th century was marked by technological and economic upheavals that put companies first. At the beginning of the 21st century, there is a strong inspiration to put the human being forward. Photography is one of my passions and for several years, I have seen the development of many projects that highlight this human side.”
“When I heard about the blog of Brandon Stanton, I was immediately inspired by his work and the emotion that emerges from these portraits and stories told. Through simple but relevant questions, the artist has captured essential moments in the lives of these people. These people who are totally unknown to us, let us enter into their lives and their intimacy and for whom we experience different feelings.”
The power of emotions
“For some people, photography is an art and portraiture is a specialty, but in this project, it is for me a matter of perspective. Everyone is able to simply participate in capturing the emotion that can translate a face.”
“Thus each student is able to be the actor of this collective work by contributing. Indeed even the imperfection can be source of emotions. The purpose of this project is not to have something perfect but something true and inspiring. The few narrative elements allow us deeper into the lives of the individuals, to strengthen the social bonds and to make live the notion of community.”
“Two people can capture the same picture, and they might have totally different opinions about what they see, or what they feel. The “Humans of New York” artist’s work combines what he sees, the photographed person’s expression and what they feel. We photograph a subject to hold memories. But those memories may trigger one emotion right at the moment, and a different emotion some days or months after. It will be interesting to know the feelings of people photographed at the time and ask them questions a few weeks later.”
The heart of the school
“So it is the way to discover the Glion Family and the Glion Spirit through the people who make the soul of our school. Our school already has a strong image through its academic and professional reputation, but it is certain that the overall value of an institution comes from the individuals who compose it.”
