Strangers making connections
Jhayne points to a fascinating and odd 3-minute video about a photographer who gets strangers to pose with each other as if they're emotionally close.
It pushes a bunch of my buttons about personal space and autonomy and public embarrassment—and yet the people involved are apparently doing it consensually, so I don't think my discomfort is even remotely justified. And the people involved apparently start to feel connected to each other during the process, which brings up all sorts of questions about how emotional connection and physical touch interrelate.
Anyway, my reactions are all muddled, but I think it's a really interesting and neat concept.
The photographer is named Richard Renaldi; there are some more photos from his Touching Strangers project online.
This also reminds me of SoulPancake's “Take a Seat and Make a Friend” strangers-in-a-ball-pit video. The idea of connections between people is one of my very favorite things, but this kind of pushing-strangers-together thing makes me anxious. But I'm really glad that it works well for the participants.