Photographer Steps Out of Her Comfort Zone, Touches Strangers on the Streets of New York

I am choosing people to photograph regardless of gender, race, and class, and consciously interacting with my environment. The work is an exploration of my history and the ways I have been guarded and chosen to not speak to strangers. I want to explore going against what I believed to be socially correct. I want to translate my compassionate nature and what I feel for the people I encounter, the space we all share together both socially and environmentally.—Joy Mckinney

New York-based photographer Joy Mckinney is after a shared experience in The Guardian, a series of photographs in which she has touched 74 strangers on the street, creating images that break the barriers of personal space. The project is an experiment of sorts, Mckinney acknowledges along the way her own perceptions about strangers, space, and time were false—rather people were accepting and willing to share in the connection.

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