The Parent Association of the French school in Tbilisi proposes a calendar every year, gathering all class photos in one place. This year I have offered to produce the class photos. This is far from my usual work and my comfort zone and I am curious to see what I can make of it. I looked at previous years class photos and want to try something different from the usual group photo. Searching for ideas on the internet, I have found individual portraits shot in a box and put together as a montage. The more I think about it, the more merits I find in the use of the box for this particular project. With a single box size one can see kids growing up. It is a good symbol of the school environment as seen by the kids: huge at first, and then getting smaller, almost shrinking as grades go by until it is time to go see the world outside the box. The box is also a symbol of the education system as seen by the parents: a chrysalis in which kids mature until they are ready to get out of it. Technically it offers me a controlled environment which allows for a repetitive process. The technical feasibility is a crucial aspect as I have to make lots of portraits in a short period of time.

Planning and logistics are key here. The school and I establish a tight shooting agenda spreading over 6 sessions of about 3-4 hours: 400 portraits like this one must be made…

… at a rate of one portrait every three minutes over a week period.

Through this collection of portraits, I wanted to try and show the parents that they not only find their kid as he/she is today, but may also remember how he/she was, little one, sometime lost in the big box, or imagine how he/she will grows up in the future, tall and fine teenager cramped in the box and ready to discover more of the outside world.

In the box, some kids were kind of shy while others improvised amazing performances but they all expressed a little bit of themselves. One can read many stories there, stories of friendship with a number of duos and stagings involving actors in several boxes. One can also read the difficult mornings, some days better than others or time of self questioning and interrogations about the world. One can also and mostly see many smiles. We see there kids growing up, grade after grade, like in a time-lapse, and it is quite moving.

The initial reaction of the parents was a sole interest in their kid’s class photo, but they soon realized that the project truly reveals itself when one goes through all the class photos. The kids were captivated immediately by the entire collection, looking at all the photos, and making amused comments with their friends about each and every box.

This was to me a great experience and I really enjoyed it. It involved many aspects of photographic production I had not encountered before or at least not at that scale. I’ve learned a lot.  In 15 days I shot 400 individuals, including 361 kids, post-processed all photos individually, made 24 class photo montages, and produced a calendar. The coolest part was of course the opportunity to interact, even if for a short time, with all these kids who have in common to share one school. A big thank you to them all for their trust.