We spoke with Stuart about his project and he shared some of his favorite photographs of men from around the world in the pages of STAND 03.
STAND: What inspired you to embark on the Peace in 10,000 Hands project?
I arrived at a point in my life where I only wanted to be involved in projects and businesses that make a difference and contribute to making the planet better. That and the realization that everything needs peace, now! We can each individually create the change we want to see. The majority of ideas don’t fail because they don’t work. They fail because people never do anything about them. I am 100% focused on “Peace in 10,000 Hands” and I believe what you focus on will grow. My inspiration is the belief that everything has the right to live in peace. The opportunity to exist, coexist. Everything on the planet needs peace. Humans, animals, planets, waterways, the environment … everything, very little will be better tomorrow than it is today.
STAND: Can you talk about one or two photos, and the circumstances around taking them, that are particularly meaningful to you?
People often think meeting and photographing people like The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ricky Gervais, and Demi Moore must be awesome and it is. They are all so thoughtful and brilliant. But it is often unknown people that leave a searing mark on your psyche. I was photographing a farmer in PKK country in Turkey. It was very cold, there was snow on the ground. I was staying in a tiny village, no running water, a small collection of animals, smoke from fires, huge piles of soaking wet cow manure collected to dry for fuel for cooking and heating. The farmer was a very grim (read scary) man. He had a wife and eight children. He worked the land to feed his family. His hands were large and rough. Surprisingly he was embarrassed about his hands and wanted to wash them. I asked, through my interpreter, for him not to. His stare was like dynamite. Plus he did not really want to be photographed. His stare seared a hole in the camera lens and my eye. It was intimidating. I knew the image would not be great. And started thinking what I could do. I did something different for the first time in the project. I asked for him to simply close his eyes. Then I asked him to think to himself what peace meant to him, without telling me. His change in demeanor, warmth, and smile was as initially shocking as it was unexpected. I love the image. It was emotional and I remember it like it was yesterday.
Each of us has the power to create change. To be the catalyst. It is you.
STAND: What do you hope others gain from viewing and experiencing these photos?
A deep sense of connectivity. I see my role as capturing a moment of unguarded humanity with each person I photograph. A moment when the person I am photographing reveals what lies behind that thin veil that protects their child-like self. The one thing we all left behind during the ages of four to eight. When we last actually thought everything will be ok. That we are safe. I really believe that visual art crosses boundaries; breaks down borders and communicates like no other form of language. Since the time of cave drawings when we have communicated with art. We are moving into a more enlightened age when showing pictures and storytelling are moving to the forefront of a global language.
We all share a deep connectivity in our similarities in the human condition and my hope is photographing people from every country on the planet will visually communicate my idea and break down barriers.
STAND: What have you learned through this project?
Patience. Courage. Understanding. Compassion. Forgiveness. It is hard to quantify meeting and interacting with over two-and-a-half-thousand people from fifty countries and explain what one might have learnt and seen. I have been in so many situations, from peril, desperation, heartbreak, disbelief, fear and joy. This is the greatest journey of my life and I will keep learning and sharing.
STAND: What is peace to you?
Inner peace. No doubt. From personal inner peace, it moves to your family. To your village. To your town. To your country. To our planet. It all starts with the individual. Their inner peace. Each of us has the power to create change. To be the catalyst. It is you.
Previously published on STAND
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Photo: GettyImages