Photographer Richard Renaldi launched a project called Touching Strangers that featured a series of photos showing strangers in intimate poses. The photographer’s goal was simple. He wanted to encourage every one to break away from their usual selves and pose with strangers as their bodies are touching in different intimate manners.
Renaldi said not everyone is comfortable of course but some people just got over the awkwardness as quickly than the others and made the poses look genuine without the hint of unaccountability.
His project was launched in 2007 and it fools everyone to think the subjects are related to each other. One picture depicts a scene of lovers in a restaurant, comfortably touching each other. Another picture has a young lady and an old lady hugging each other as if they have known each other for years. One most striking is a picture of a generous passerby posing with a mother and her children (as featured above).
The photographer aimed to encourage people to be out of their comfort zones and think beyond racial or ethnic divisions.
Renaldi is now working on a Kickstarter project with Aperture to launch a special edition books of his unique pictures. According to Aperture’s executive director, Renaldi’s work is a bold and exciting piece of work.
