Fairfield, CT - The Faces of Fairfield project came about as an idea for a companion event for One Book One Town 2016. This year’s book, “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson, focuses on the negative aspects of social media and the current, disturbing trend of using the social media sites for lashing out and acting as judge, jury and executioner. Inspired by the extremely popular book, Facebook page and website “Humans of New York,” the One Book One Town committee hoped to find a similar way to show that the Internet can provide a place to ‘publicly embrace’ each other. The “Humans of New York” interviews and photographs by Brandon Stanton evoke supportive, reassuring and positive comments from the public, creating a sense of community and taking us out of a place of judgement.
In hopes of bringing this project to life, the One Book One Town committee members reached out to one of the town’s greatest resources – its students and teachers. Fairfield Ludlowe High School and Fairfield Warde High School students and art teachers, under the direction of Michele Hermsen, K-12 District Art Department Coordinator for Fairfield Public Schools, happily took the project on and created “Faces of Fairfield.” They have taken more than 60 documentary style photographs of people in and around the town of Fairfield. Each photo is accompanied by a bit of conversation with and thoughts of the subject of the picture. When looking at these wonderfully insightful pieces, it is hard to deny their power.
Join the Library for a reception and viewing of Faces of Fairfield at Fairfield Public Library, 1080 Old Post Road on Wednesday, May 18 from 6 pm to 8 pm. The photo display will be in the Library’s Periodical Room. All programs at the Fairfield Public Library are free of charge. For more information and to register for this event call 203-256-3160, or visit us on the web www.fairfieldpubliclibrary.org Follow the Fairfield Public Library on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fairfieldpublib and Facebook: www.facebook.com/fairfieldlibrary.