I‘ve toyed with changing the name of my “Life in Ottawa’ blog category to “Love letters to Ottawa.” I like to think that a lot of this blog is exactly that. But while my love letters are about the places in Ottawa, the things to see and do and visit, Kym Shumsky’s 100 strangers project is sort of like 100 love letters about the people of Ottawa.
You may remember last year, I wrote a post about being a part of Kym’s project. I was just re-reading my post about it for the first time in a while, and it brought me right back to that night, how much fun it was and how nervous I was and how pleased I was with the final results.
It amazes me to think I was just one per cent of Kym’s crazy project, just one of 100 interactions and photo sessions that Kym has had over the past couple of years in her epic project. In Kym’s own words, her 100 strangers project was “about style, but not just style. It’s also about telling the story of Ottawa’s people right off the streets of Ottawa herself. This town is more than meets the eye. Over the next several months I want to meet, talk to, and photograph 100 strangers. Pictures will tell one story. People will inspire the other.”
But because she is such an inspiring person herself, she has turned this into something more. Now that the photo taking is done, there is a book, and framed prints, all of which will be raising funds for Operation Rainbow Canada.
I think my very favourite part of this is how Kym’s project has gone from “Le Mien” (French for “mine”) to “Les nôtres” (French for “ours”).
I’ll be there, will you?
I sure will and I’ll be buying one of those books. I loved being a part of that project and the photos she took of me may be some of my all-time favourites 🙂
Les nôtres doensn’t only mean ours as in our projects or our pictures, but said without a referent like this means our people. Very appropriate for such a great project.
Thank you Sara, I did not know that! (3 hours of French lessons each week, and I’m still getting there!)
Dani, you’ve got it just right. The gift of this project to me, personally, is having shared wonderful memories with people such as yourself. It means everything to me that you felt the same.
Thank you for writing this.