LAURIS, FRANCE 1 000 Portraits - 6 au 9 Juillet 2016

WE DEFEND OUR CASTLE WITH 1000 SMILES IN LAURIS
IN SMILE WE TRUST
Lauris is a small village but living in the shadow of the next village, Lourmarin. Because of this situation, some wrong ideas about our city emerged, and I see a lot of people being sad about it. I think INSIDE OUT PROJECT can give some joy to people of Lauris

- How was your experience with Inside Out - Highlights?
Achieving a collage of more than 1000 portraits was the most human and amazing experience of my life because nobody believed in it at first. My team even said I was crazy to do it. The feeling of completing the project was sensational.

- What was the impact of your group action? How did people react?
Our team had a lot of solidarity! At the end of the festival, everyone was moved to both laughter and tears. It was beautiful!

- Can you still observe the impact/consequences of your Inside Out today?
Lauris's castle, which used to be deserted, welcomed a lot of visitors during the summer thanks to our project. We received a lot of gratitude from the inhabitants, the schools, the associations etc.

ROME, ITALY 320 Portraits - May 2016

COSTRUIAMO LA COMUNITÀ DEL XXI SECOLO is a kaleidoscope of portraits of young students whose expressive richness is the translation of the multiethnic cohesion of the community which MAXXI museum feels to belong to.
On the occasion of the exhibition “Extraordinary visions – L’Italia”, the Education Department has developed a workshop involving the neighborhood Public School: thanks to its ethnic mixture it embodies a welcoming message of multicultural integration, giving birth to a coral work of art focused on the emotional expression of personal feelings.

This experience was extremely enriching both for the MAXXI Education as well as for the local school, Guido Alessi – I.C. Via Micheli, involved in a workshop with the participation of 18 primary and middle-school classes. Each child was asked to express what they felt at the museum, in front of the installations of contemporary art.
They had to focus on their emotional reaction and to express it in their personal way, so as to allow their partner to realize a portrait; this portrait has become the script for the shooting session.
Even if it was very difficult for them to focus on their emotivity and to express it naturally, this experience was essential to help them understanding the difference between every personal interpretation of a wide range of emotions, according to their different sensibility, familiar context and cultural background.
The greatest satisfaction was in the moment of pasting the portraits; the students were incredibly excited at recognizing themselves into this gorgeous many-voiced work of art. The reaction of the passersby is even more curious; not only parents and relatives, but also random passersby are constantly attracted by this kaleidoscope of pictures whose expressive richness is the outcome of the multi-ethnic cohesion of the school community, to which the museum feels it belongs after years of shared learning activities.
My favorite part was certainly the students involvement during the billposting; the enthusiasm of their concrete participation was really thrilling.

Palencia , Spain 20 Portraits - Nov/2016

Against Gender Violence we are everyone and we won't shut up. Our body isn't available for your desire. There, where your gaze ends, begins my coldness.

BARCELONA, SPAIN 10 Portraits - September 2016

We've been working with students on School values for an entire course. Within this course, we've organised a questionnaire about these values addressed to a significant number of the members of the school community, including all levels and ages, students, parents and staff. The values represented in the images ( posters) are the ones which, according to the survey, we should aim at. They're our objectives or targets. This is why we want to exhibit them at a significant and visible place in our school.

- How was your experience with Inside Out?
It's been a worderful experience because the philosophy teacher and myself worked on the project with a group of 28 students on the sociology class for the whole of the school year. We really reflected on the topic of values within our school community and carried a very deep survey on school values with the whole of the community.
For me, and for many students as well, the most significant part was the debate we had among the participants and the rest of students at school and also the process of taking the pictures. It was fun. Students are really proud of the project
We hope the tattood messages become inspirational for the whole of the community

- What was the impact of your group action? How did people react?
the whole of the school community was surprised and amazed at the result of the project. People looked at the big portraits in astonishment, especially students who saw their mates portrait and empowered by the pics and the itself project.

- What is the best story or quote you collect from your action?
We had to hire a professional to paste the posters. Everyone loved the "spiderman" we had hired.

SAINT-LÔ, FRANCE 176 Portraits - Mai 2016

While we all live in the same city, we don't necessarily know each other. We live five minutes away from each other without having had the opportunity to meet. Despite the diversity of our lives, our origins, our stories, our situations, our neighborhoods, we all share the idea that culture should be accessible to all and that it should allow us to get together.

- How was your experience with Inside Out?
The positive aspects of this experience what the participation of the habitants in the project, their curiosity, enthusiasm and desire to perceive Saint-Lo in a different way. My favorite step was when we collected the portraits, as this was when we met the people and interacted with them the most.

- What was the impact of your group action? How did people react?
People were intrigued and asked what was the aim of the project. There was a genuine curiosity towards our project and and the exchanges between participants was very interesting

- Do you have any advice for future group action leaders?
No, it's the discovery of each step that was actually interesting.

PONT PEAN, FRANCE 137 Portraits - Juin 2016

Ce grand projet artistique et collaboratif se veut être une réflexion sur la tolérance et l'ouverture aux autres dans toutes leurs différences : " Et si aller vers les autres, vers l'inconnu, vers celui que l'on croise sans le saluer était finalement facile et profitable ?"
Un groupe de jeunes pontpéannais s'est saisi de ce projet accompagné de l'association CSF et du Local Jeunes. Par leur action INSIDE OUT PONT PEAN, les jeunes vous invitent à découvrir les portraits de plus de 130 habitants de la commune qui se sont prêtés au jeu. L'intention est qu'à travers tous ces visages, chacun puisse entrevoir la richesse humaine et la diversité que recèle ce territoire.

- Comment s'est deroulé votre action Inside Out?
Ce projet fut mené à bien grâce à l’engagement sur un an des jeunes porteurs de ce projet. La cohérence avec le message « d’ouverture vers les autres » du projet a conduit les jeunes à faire du porte-à-porte pour trouver les personnes désireuses de se prêter au jeu du portrait. Plus de 130 personnes ont répondu présentes aux différents shootings organisés. La plus jeune habitante a 3 mois, la plus âgée a 85 ans.
Les points forts sont sans doute les rencontres que les shootings ont provoquées, ainsi que le plaisir de fédérer des gens autour de l’une idée simple de respect de l’autre.
Le projet a eu un écho qui a dépassé largement les frontières du territoire.
Les retours des participants après collage et des passants furent toujours positifs, des panneaux sur place permettaient d’offrir une lecture du projet et d’en expliquer l’intention. Certains ont exprimé leur regret de ne pas y être !! Même si le projet n’est pas aussi ambitieux que d’autres il a eu une certaine résonnance au regard des évènements de replis identitaires qui ont émaillé l’actualité au moment de sa mise en œuvre.

- Quel a été l'impact de votre action?
Les retours que nous avons eus témoignent du lien social que ce projet a pu engendrer. À savoir se faire se rencontrer ou s’interpeller des gens qui ne se connaissaient de prima bord et qui se sont reconnus via le projet.
Un autre impact a été le regard nouveau que les habitants ont pu poser sur le bâtiment qui fut utilisé ; c’est un bâtiment administratif qui témoigne d’un passé minier très important. Le mettre ainsi en valeur par les portraits a donné le sentiment que les habitants se le réappropriaient avec tout le patrimoine qui l’accompagne et ceci est tombé au moment où des échanges très concrets ont été lancés par la commune pour prendre en main sa réhabilitation, nous l’espérons en lieu de partage, d’échange et d’actions collaboratives.

HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA 30 Portraits - October 2016

From business people, to artists, to activists, Hamilton's east end has a vast array of people that all deserve a place in the spotlight. We believe their faces should be remembered, because they all contribute to the neighbourhood's identity.

- What was the impact of your group action? How did people react?
Some people were curious. Others were confused about the goal, but gave support anyway.

- Do you have any advice for future group action leaders?
Make sure your project is registered first and you have a clear vision of what message you want to portray.

- What is the best story or quote you collect from your action?
The best thing I can say is the community support. Not just from those taking part, but the group that joined me on the weekend to photograph subjects and then put up the posters.

ALBUQUERQUE, USA 9 Portraits - April, 2016

As students at the University of New Mexico, we are studying how different artworks raise awareness and change social and cultural ideas. We are participating in the Inside Out Project to make a difference in our community through raising awareness, empathy, and prompting public discussion about migrants and refugees. In 2014 alone, 205,653 foreign-born immigrants were recorded in New Mexico (Migrationpolicy.org). We want our community to realize that refugees and migrants are a part of our daily lives; that they are our friends and our coworkers and our kindly faces that we see in the street. We want our community to see that immigrants, refugees or otherwise, are people with unique lives and stories, who aren’t solely defined by their having moved to a new place. Our project seeks to shed light on immigrants who are in the process of making Albuquerque their home.