The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Today’s featured artist: Aaron Anderson
Periphery
This was a personal project that had been on my mind for some time, and in the Spring of 2016 all the pieces finally came together. The idea was relatively simple, creating authentic portraits of people struggling with homelessness, but it involved quite a few moving parts that needed a team of people to solve. After multiple rounds of meetings and pitching we landed on building a studio-like space at the Springs Rescue Mission in Colorado Springs (https://www.springsrescuemission.org/) and allowing for 30 minutes with each subject. Our goal was for these people to feel seen and heard, for someone to look them in the eye and tell their story, maybe for the first time.
We spent most of every session talking to each person, finding out about them, hearing their story and memories from their childhood. In the beginning I was nervous about asking them some of these questions, things like “what’s your favorite food?” or “tell us one of your fondest memories from childhood?”, but in the end they were happy to tell us, more than that, they were excited that someone wanted to know. We heard beautiful stories that day, from pet racoons to strawberry festivals and everything in between. As they spoke, I was struck by how we are all connected through this desire to feel seen and heard, yet so often they are treated with such contempt. We pretend not to see, we look another direction, cross the street, busy ourselves on phones to seem unaware. Even though this project was done in 2016, how much truer is this today?
After about 20-25 minutes talking with each person, while drinking a cup of coffee and having a snack together, we created a portrait. What I realized right away was how incredibly vulnerable this moment was, they were allowing me to show them at what is typically the lowest point they have been in their life. When we started the first portrait I knew this was different than any portrait I had done, we were going to have to break through shame and discomfort in just a few minutes, but how? After a few seconds of looking through the camera I realized that wasn’t going to work, so I stood up with my hand on the button and started talking to them again. I would ask about something from their story, looking at them in the eye and listening. While they talked, I pressed the shutter button, only a handful of times, and never for more than 5 minutes…some of them didn’t even realize I had started or finished. What we ended up with was beautiful, they were moments of story and connection.
My goal with this project was never to just take some images and post them on social media or a website somewhere, it was always to create something that would inspire people to change how they see. Because of this there was the pursuit of another big idea, having them displayed in a museum. We had the images printed huge (4 ft x 6ft), and thanks to the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs, we were able to display them in a gallery for three months. There was a beautiful opening where people from all walks of life came together to support our community, and perhaps to see these people in a way they never have before.
In the end this project was even bigger than I could have dreamed of, and the images are still being used to this day to raise money and awareness in our community. I hope this project can inspire you to use your gifts to give people a voice, to bring light and connection through your art in a way that only you can.
To see more of this project, click here
If you would like to support The Spring Street Rescue Mission, click here
APE contributor Suzanne Sease Currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration advertising and in-house corporate industry for decades. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. Follow her on Instagram
