80 faces, 80 powerful words

Photograph: Thomas Mougeolle / Yann Couëdel

Text: Jakob Weizman

Photos of faces printed in black and white were scrawled out across a large poster at Thott Palace in Copenhagen, picturing 80 students of the French Prince Henrik School vocalizing their commitment towards the fight against the dangers affecting our world today.

The exhibition is part of a larger, worldwide project known as ‘INSIDE OUT’, created in 2011 by an anonymous French artist known under his pseudonym as ‘JR’. Today, numbers of people participating across the world tally at over 250,000, in 129 countries.

Students were given the task of choosing their own word in any language of their choice, relating to how they felt about the planet. Afterwards, photographer Thomas Mougeolle captured portraits of them depicting their emotions towards the planet, and the word they selected.

“I strongly believe the children handled the project with respect and proudness,” said Couëdel. “Thomas told me that the children had fun being photographed and seeing the results in images of the emotions they wanted to show.