Awkward/Friendly Group Photo
Step out from the familiar, narrow circle is an exhausting process. In fact, it is an intangible shield that often discourages people to interact with each other. Through this performance project, my partner Amy. L and I are aiming to overlap those circles and melt their shields to open up the entrance for engagement. I remembered going to the Foundation Student Group Photo Day, surrounded by another four hundred unfamiliar faces, awkwardly smiled at the camera, and pretended to engage with the rest of the people. After several photos had been taken, everyone just gradually left the Concourse Gallery. The guy stood next to me is still a stranger as much as he is before the group photo. Not only is this process uncomfortable, it is also quite pointless since ¾ of my face is blocked out, and my present in that group photo did not make me feel more like a part of the group. Thus, one of the purposes of this project is to allow our participants to experience a comfortable, meaningful photo shot and walk away with a new friendship. We targeted our participants mainly the students of Emily Carr (or just any passerby walked pass the stair in south campus who happened to be alone) for a simple reason. Over the past few months, we noticed that people in Emily Carr are either in a rush most of the time or they only hang out with specific friends that they were closed. This observation is further confirmed with the phenomenon we witnessed during our process. The passerby I personally (for I was the one who covered the field) found difficult to approach are the one who seems to be in a hurry moving from this room to another that they just didn’t have time to meet someone new. However, we also have somebody who is willing to take her time and wait for us to find another participant. Our project required two people as a group in one photoshoot, which enables the flexibility of the time and allows a more private condition for the two participants to know each other. We took ten sets of the photoshoot in total and we make sure that everyone’s face is recognizable in the final group photo. Basically, we removed the awkward elements of a group photo to achieve our goal of this project; which is, to bring individuals together in a way that a normal group photo can never do. Originally we prepared some jokes or compliment for our participants as the ice-breaker for their conversation. As it turned out, everyone who is willing to participate in this project more or less has the potential/ability to naturally socialized with each other. This is when we realized, sometimes, all it takes is an external force and an opportunity to step out from the personal circle that is restricted people from the interaction. At the end, we provided each participant a name card to exchange contact as a wish to continue their friendly moment even after this group photo project. In some degree, this project is a challenge for me as well. It took me 20 minutes to get over with my internal struggle and finally reached out to our first participant. In my opinion (and a comment to my experience), strike up a conversation with strangers really is the art of communication. **Due to the respect of our participants' portraiture right, I can not reveal the final picture online.**
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