6x6: Portland, Maine

2003

Oral History project that documented the ways in which the Portland, Maine community was connected.

Each row represents a “pathway” of connection. Each pathway was produced separately, though I found that people from other pathways knew each other and other connected pathways were possible.

I would meet with one person and interview them for an hour. Then, I would photograph them with a Polaroid camera against a red sheet I brought. Finally, I would ask them to connect me to someone in their social network that they knew, but who wasn’t necessarily a close friend. Someone different from them in age, race, sex, sexual identity, political beliefs, etc. People connected me to their former babysitters, their landlord, their neighbor, their mechanic.

UPDATE:

I posted the first pathway stories from this project on my newsletter. Check it out here!