Hans Koepsell

Our world is in a state of upheaval. Places that were once safe are now targets for violence. Hateful ideologies that were once fought back into the darkness are again emerging into the light of public opinion. Sources that were once trusted as infallible are now being manipulated to suit political agendas. When all of these negativities are published daily, one is left to wonder if there is any good left in the world.

Media outlets, intentionally and unintentionally, are master craftsmen at shaping the way reality is perceived. When an individual; a minority; a majority; are fed enough of one viewpoint, eventually the consumer starts to believe that it must be true. The consumer starts to believe that what they are hearing must be the view of the majority, true or not, because they hear it from so many sources multiple times a day.

Being nearly to this point myself, something inside me said, “Talk to the people. They will tell you the truth about the world. They will tell you what the majority really feels.” So I did; and Letters to Humanity was born.

With my 4×5 camera and digital voice recorder in hand, I walked the streets talking to anyone who would stop. Street musicians, students, businesspeople, the homeless, average joe’s, of all colors, races, religions and backgrounds. To each individual I asked the same question, “If you had any advice for humanity, anything at all, what would you say?” The answers all differed slightly but retained the same core each time. Be Kind. Be Loving. Be Accepting. Be Selfless.

This surprised me. I thought surely since there is such a difference between the people that I’ve talked to, some of the hatred and violence and darkness that is fed to us daily would come out in their answers. It never did. And this is why I want to make this project public. I want to share this with the world. No matter how violent and cold and evil we are told the majority is, the heart doesn’t lie.

This is a small step in the pushback against what we are led to believe. There is good in the world, there is light amongst the darkness, there is hope. This idea needs to be seen and shared and experienced so a transformation will take place. Those small first steps will escalate into a jog and then burst from the blocks to flood the world with the message that the individual has for humanity: Love one another.

“I just think if everybody was a little nicer to everybody else and try to get along with people.” -Skyler O.

“One thing, we’re all human. No matter what color, race, blood, we’re human. No matter if we live on the street or in homes. That first amendment says that we can live our lives the way we want. I don’t know why we’re all separated. Yeah, I hope it gets better.” -Richard C.

“It’s the oldie but the goodie, ‘be nice to each other.’ Because that would change the world.” -Sue O.

“My piece of advice to humanity is that the power of one has always changed history and your influence is something no one else can have. You’re an individual who has its own place and time in history and you alone have a lot of power in what influence on the history that you leave and that can be a beautiful wonderful thing so remember how powerful you are as an individual.” -Marcie

“We can all use a little more empathy, that’s it. Understand what that word means and once we all understand the word we can start to effectively use that word to change mankind, change the will of people. I think if we all had a little bit more empathy we would care more about the conditions of others. It’s like wearing other people’s skin right? You chose to do so, it’s a willing thing. Are you willing to be empathetic for others? If we can do that then I think the world would be a better place, right? But no one’s willing to do that.” -Carlos E.

“Be fun-loving, happy-go-lucky.” -James

“Remember that people are basically good and that everybody struggles with something and everybody’s having a hard time with something typically at any given moment and so give them the benefit of the doubt. If you think about it from that perspective and don’t assume the worst but assume the best, then I think that will naturally change the way you treat people.” -Holly C.

“Help people who ask for help because I feel like that’s when genuine help can be given to people; when they ask for it.” -Dalton S.

“Even though at times it might seem crazy, there’s always so much good you can do in anyone’s day just to make it a little brighter. Whether if it’s a stranger, a friend, or a family member, you, yourself have so much power just to do so much good and not all hope is lost.” -Madeline C.

“Get your act together. There’s a lot of things that’s more important than material things. We as human beings need to get along. We are all in this earth together. We all need to unite to each other, respect each other, and be together like the way we should be, that we humans should be. We’re all like a family. We all need to get along. We all need to respect each other, respect each other’s boundaries. Everything that we have we share together, we share this earth together, we share this city together, towns and schools, everything that we do together. We all need to respect one another and appreciate one another because in the long run all that we have is each other. Everything that we have is each other. Just like family. We all need to stand by each other and take care, the way we should! And that’s the way I feel.” -Tyrone T.

This is an ongoing project shot with a 1910 Seneca Duo 6b 4×5 field camera which is loaded with Kodak Ektachrome color slide film.