What began as a quiet photography project in Northeast England quickly developed into a worldwide photojournalistic commentary on the 500 year old institution of in-classroom education. From Ethiopia to Yemen to Russia to Missouri, when we look at the classrooms featured in this wonderful photo series, we aren’t just viewing desks and chairs. We’re looking at the future.
In his portraitures, Germain made sure not to tell the students how to “be” or have the classroom pre-arranged to fit a specific vision, nor did he break a school’s time tables. When asked if a particular encounter stuck out to him, Germain cited a visit at a school in Yemen. Upon arriving, Germain asked a Yemeni boy if he liked school, and the child responded with an enthusiastic, so-obvious-it’s-not-even-funny “of course”. Said Germain to the interviewer, “His response was just so different from that of any child from a developed country where school is routine. It’s very simplistic, but in so many ways, we rich folk just don’t know how lucky we are, do we?”
IMAGE CORNER
