25/06/2026
As part of this new ALTAR project, every participant, both those already photographed and those who will be photographed in the future are invited to share something of themselves before we ever create an image together.
Iāve started reading through the responses & while every person is unique, some surprisingly common themes are beginning to emerge.
Many speak about searching for peace, stability, authenticity, or simply a place where they can exist without expectation.
Others describe feeling misunderstood. Emotions mistaken for something they are not. Strength hiding vulnerability. Independence mistaken for distance. Grief, uncertainty, longing and hope often sitting quietly beneath the surface of what the world sees.
What has surprised me most is what people rarely talk about.
Very few mention success, money, careers, status or achievements.
Instead, they talk about belonging.
Identity.
Connection.
Freedom.
Acceptance.
Being seen for who they really are.
Many describe feeling most themselves not in moments of accomplishment, but in simple moments & surrounded by nature, wrapped in a blanket, sharing a coffee, creating something meaningful, spending time with trusted people, or finding solitude away from the noise of everyday life.
Again & again, I find people describing the gap between how they are perceived & how they experience themselves. The labels, assumptions, expectations and roles we all carry. The masks we learn to wear. The parts of ourselves we reveal & the parts we keep hidden.
The photographs are important, but the more I read these responses, the more I realise this project is becoming something larger than a collection of portraits.
It is becoming a collection of human experiences.
Different lives.
Different stories.
Yet remarkably similar desires.
To be understood.
To be accepted.
To find peace.
To feel at home within ourselves.
And perhaps that is what connects all of us more than anything else.
www.GlennAlderson.com
