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The project

First there was Humans Of New-York. A simple Facebook page, soon followed by a blog, on which a young photographer would publish pictures of anonymous people that he met while wandering around in New York. And as a result, a series of portraits displaying with lots of kindness and benevolence the many faces of urban residents. And a huge media success : 16 million followers on Facebook, 5 million on Instagram.

Others noticed it and transposed the same idea onto numerous cities worldwide : Humans Of Paris, Humans Of Beyrouth, Humans Of Bangalore, and many more.

Now it is our turn. Except that Senlis, even including neighbouring villages, is not one of those vast and densely populated metropolises. It is a place where chances are that anyone you meet in the street is someone you know, even remotely. It is a territory that thrives not from the sheer number of people living there, but from the depth of personal commitment that each and every one of its inhabitants feels towards the community.

So there it is : Humans Of Senlis is a collection of portraits, both photographs and texts, that tell the story of our city through the deeds and hopes of its people.

Doing this, we aim to celebrate the richness and diversity of personal journeys that meet here ; show how this addition of individual talents builds the collective spirit of our city ; and finally demonstrate that in spite of all the talk describing France as a country stricken by economic decline and social frustration, the grassroot reality is completely different, teeming with collective and individual endeavours, and dreams, and causes to which people are prepared to dedicate the best of their time and efforts.

The team

Behind the scenes of Humans Of Senlis is a team of volunteers. Some of them conduct interviews, write articles or take photographs. Others translate the portraits into English for the sake of making them accessible to non-French speakers. Still others take care of the inner workings of our project and spend their time organizing, coordinating and supporting the team’s efforts.

Here is a short index of who is who and who does what.

Julien Damon Writer
Sociologist, associate professor at Paris’ Institut d’Etudes Politiques, scientific advisor to the Ecole nationale supérieure de sécurité sociale. Editor-at-large at Les Echos and Le Point. Founder and manager of the consulting firm Éclairs. Author of many books in the field of economic and social sciences. Lives half in Paris, half in the countryside close to Senlis
Lucas Delattre Writer
Professor of media, communication and digital studies at the Institut Français de la Mode. Historian, former journalist, press correspondent in Germany in the 1990’s. Author of a biography of Fritz Kolbe (1900-1971), a German anti-nazi, lone Resistant fighter and spy in service of the United States during the Second World War (Denoël, 2003). Saxophonist whenever I have time to play
Elisabeth Grosdhomme Chief editor
Founder and manager of Paradigmes et caetera, a research and consulting firm specialised in future search and innovation. Non-executive director of several companies, foundations and charitable societies. Living in Senlis since 2000
Sébastien Lulin Translator
Composer of digital music, sound engineer and producer of techno music events. Raised in Senlis. Currently living and working in Montréal, Canada
Camille Noyon Photographer
Student at the Ecole de Condé in Paris for a bachelor’s degree in photography. With a passion for photography dating back many years, I have been running a Facebook page since 2012 in order to share some of my work : Golden Art Photography. After graduation, I hope to become a professional photo reporter.
Photokiff Photographer
Passionate photographer. Sharing his work on a Facebook page with more than 20 000 followers from all over the world. Epicurean, globe-trotter, always on the look-out to capture fleeting moments and scenes of daily life where emotion surfaces. Living in or next to Senlis for more than 20 years.
Jérôme Prévost Photographer
A photo reporter for 25 years, Jérôme Prévost works for the newspaper L'Equipe, covering many sports events and illustrating stories for the magazine.