Julian Germain began his “Classroom Portraits” series in northeast England in 2004, but the project’s scope has since expanded globally, the Huffington Post reports.
“By presenting different pupils, different schools, different year groups, Germain asks questions about contemporary educational practices and social divisions,” Archive Magazine wrote of the project in October 2005.
“I never tell the students how they should look but ensuring that everybody has a clear view of the camera requires concentration and patience. Each pupil has to be aware of their place in the picture,” Germain wrote to Brain Pickings’ Maria Popova.
Even after eight years, “Classroom Portraits” is still catching the public eye. A user-curated gallery of select photos from the project rose to the front page of social new site Reddit on Oct. 9. A photo book of the project was released this summer. With its global perspective, the British photographer’s project might be considered a sampling, albeit a tiny one, of what different cultures value with regards to education…
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