Humans of New York
Humans of New York (HONY) is by no means a new book on the market. In fact, there's some who even question if it should be called a book, or if the author should be described as a writer. This is because the collection of stories in it are drawn directly from the social media blogs of the same name on Facebook and Instagram.
Many who follow HONY would already be familiar with its characters and photos online - yet looking at them in a book brings them closer. It's like looking at photos of friends whom you realise you don't know personally, but whose experiences have nevertheless become part of you.
There are so many touching stories on HONY. Jon from Harlem, and his former high school teacher, DiCo, who he says changed his life by encouraging him to be part of a debating team which went on to participate in the Harvard Tournament. Stephanie, the dancer, who HONY met by chance, struggling for breath against a railing, all while resplendent in a bright quilted coat with fur cuffs and a fur hat, and whose story has since gone viral. The Diallo brothers who arrived "undocumented' in the USA from Guinea, and after untold obstacles, opened up a café selling their own Ginjan Bros brewed juice. And Paul, who is building what he calls, the largest photography library in Ghana and Africa, with the 30,000 books he has collected for years while living in America. (Note: On 1 November 2022, Paul's Dikan gallery opened in Accra). The list goes on and so does the inspiration. While the collection of stories originally started in New York, HONY has since visited South Africa, Rwanda, Pakistan, lran, Mexico and other destinations for its stories.
The longer HONY stories in the book are often alternated with shorter paragraph stories and conversation quotes. As you read this wave of universal human communication, long and short, it gives you the impression that you are just one tiny speck in a vast global humanity which thinks, perceives, interprets and lives in unique ways, with the most common thread being that we are all human.
HONY was started by Brandon Stanton who worked as a bond trader in Chicago. After losing his job in 2010, Stanton decided to pursue what he loved- the heartbeat of the city, particularly New York, and taking photos of people. He lived in a single room, posting his photos on a website with no apparent result - until he decided to post them on Facebook. Even then, the response was slight until he started to accompany each photo with a conversational quote. He saw a spike on 11 December 2011 when he posted a photo of a woman clad from head to toe, in green - including green gloves, green shoes and green hair. Their conversation went like this:
"So do you do a different colour every day?"
"No, l used to go through different stages. But then I found that I was happiest when was green, so I’ve been green for 15 years.”
I find HONY fascinating and I never tire of this treasured book. Stanton's storytelling is innocently curious, visually compelling. embracing and dignifying of people, and infused with a positivity and inspiration of his own.
Tracey Paul