Walking down the streets of San Antonio, it is easy to pass by others without recognizing their innate humanity. Faces blurs into shapes, and you may often find yourself looking down to avoid direct eye contact.
Michael Cirlos notices the faces.
Armed with a DSLR camera and an aptitude for asking the difficult questions, Cirlos embarked on a six-year project to display the people of San Antonio through portrait photography. During lunch breaks, weekends, and evenings, he scaled the streets of the Alamo city to capture faces and conduct interviews, asking each person he encountered, “What is one memory you never want to forget?”
In the summer of 2018, Trinity University Press published a small selection of his portraits and interviews. Similar to the Humans of New York project, Cirlos’ Humans of San Antonio is designed to showcase the humanity and realness of his subjects, one snapshot at a time.
In Cirlos’ words, “the Humans of San Antonio project… represents the entire community coming together, celebrating our differences, and wanting not just a place to exist but a place to truly live.” (3)
So next time you’re walking the streets of downtown, glance up and notice the faces. There may a story behind them, just waiting to be told.
Learn more about the Humans of San Antonio project here.
Check out a copy of Humans of San Antonio at the Impact Guild Lighthouse Library today.
The Impact Guild is a collaborative coworking space in San Antonio, Texas. Our impact-oriented members represent a wide variety of industries but unite behind the common goal of implementing positive social change in our community. Learn more about our mission here.