Website of the Week

7 Billion Others 

http://www.7billionothers.org

Courtesy 7 Billion Others

The 7 Billion Others video exhibition was brought to my attention by SWC student Sabrina Sperry-Johnson (the exhibition was on display at the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts from February 21 to September 13, 2015) - it was fascinating!!!

The 7 Billion Others exhibition website presents excerpts from over 6000 interviews, filmed in 84 countries and in more than 50 languages, conducted over a 7 year period.

Respondents around the world answered the same questions about their fears, ordeals, dreams and hopes. Among the 45 questions are:

• What have you learnt from your parents?
• What do you want to pass on to your children?
• What difficult circumstances have you been through?
• What does love mean to you?

Courtesy 7 Billion Others

The responses reveal not only what differentiates us around the world but, more importantly, what unites us. Project founder and filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand explains: "The times in which one could think only of oneself or of one’s own small community are over. From now on, we cannot ignore what it is that binds us and the responsibilities that this implies. There are more than seven billion of us on Earth, and there will be no sustainable development if we cannot manage to live together."

The 7 Billion Others exhibition website includes a downloadable eBook (divided into chapters including Family, Love, After Death, Happiness, Leaving One's Country, War, Fears, Meaning of Life), and an interactive mosaic of testimonies (click on people's photos to listen to/read their testimony, or select Videos - Search in Testimonies.

Review by Rachael Smithey, SWC Librarian