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Familiar Faces.

Are You Really My Friend? is a project by Maine-based photographer Tanja Hollander, who is attempting to photograph each of her 678 Facebook friends - some of whom are strangers - in their homes around the world. (So far, she's captured 300.)

She reflects: "I have crawled on the floor to play legos and read books with children I just met. I have been shown urban gardens, admired chickens and prize roosters. I saw a bee sanctuary being built in North St. Louis as part of an urban beautification project. I took part in a dance festival on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. I shared a bowl of gumbo in New Orleans with a friend I hadn’t met in real life. In Washington DC, I toured the West Wing with a friend who was a staff photographer for President Obama. I have listened to stories of family tragedy and strength, and the difficulties of surviving in this economic climate – especially for artists. Most importantly, I have learned about human kindness and compassion. I continue to be surprised by the number of people, especially (the real life) total strangers, who have opened their homes to me – offering me a place to stay, sharing their lives, their stories, their food, and their families while allowing my camera to document it all."


While I have very few Facebook friends who are total strangers, I wonder what the experience of spending a period of time with each would be like. Friends from elementary school; college dorm-mates; people I've met on trains, buses, and in hostels while traveling - I'd love the opportunity to catch up, see where our lives have taken us.

Visit Are You Really My Friend?here. Found via Feature Shoot.

15 comments:

  1. This is SUCH a good idea! When I really think about it, I'm not sure how comfortable I would be doing this with every one of my Facebook "friends"...or how many would be okay with it themselves. This is very timely, as I was just thinking about going through my friend list and doing a little spring cleaning...=]

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  2. This would be so cool to do. (And would take such a long time!) :)

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  3. Rachel, I had the same thought. I'm impressed that so many people agreed to participate - what a nice surprise :)

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  4. wow. what an interesting project!

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  5. fascinating. love this, as always, thanks for sharing!!

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  6. i'm not sure i'd do it but i love reading about it.

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  7. what an interesting project she created and found nice surprises along the way. whoever thought such project!

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  8. What a fabulous project! I just watched her presentation at TED and loved it.

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  9. Like Rachel above, I've been meaning to do a little Facebook cleanse... but now as I go through my friend list, I'll imagine what I could discover about them if I undertook a project like this. Amazing!

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  10. This is a very cool concept. I would love to meet some of my Facebook friends in real life.

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  11. Camila, I haven't seen that yet! Thanks for the reminder!

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  12. When I do hear anything about Facebook these days, it's usually less than positive, so I love that this project looks at the very real human connections that can be made from it. Thanks for sharing this!

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  13. Thanks everyone, what nice commenters you are.

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