I have been deeply inspired by Photographer JR’s large‐format street pastings of portraits to transform messages of personal identity into works of public art. This photo essay attempts to explore the flip-side of the JR’s format, where people are shot through aerial view and they become human miniatures. The photographs were captured from the top of Galata Tower in Istanbul, about 200 ft. above the ground. It explores how identities become faceless, sans-walls and border-less metaphorically and sometimes physically in an increased globalized fast-paced world. Not presented as a diptych, however, photographs are paired in the series to evoke certain intellectual and emotional responses to the thought that how insignificant yet intriguing a person might seem among the ocean of humans on this earth. We observe so many people on our journeys or short commute that it is impossible to know all of the faces and their stories. What is it to be human?

First published in ArtNow Pakistan Magazine November 2016: http://www.artnowpakistan.com/up-above-the-world-so-high/