Global Melody is a social art project I began in 2016. The idea was sparked when I saw a group of pedestrians, all wearing headphones, waiting for traffic lights to change. Watching them, I wondered, ‘what are they all listening to at this moment?’
Keen to develop my concept further, I began to interview and photograph people wearing headphones and I continue to do this wherever I go. People share their stories, tell me what they’re listening to and give me their details so I can send them a copy of the photo I’ve taken and keep them up-to-date as to how the project is going.
The outcome of my interaction is a portrait accompanied by an audio snippet of what the person was listening to when I took the photo. The result has been an amazing journey, which continues today. All the photographs taken are arbitrary: people I happen to meet on my travels.
As a photographer it’s also imperative that every photo I take reflects my encounter in a portrait that perfectly encapsulates those few minutes in time. Global Melody Project combines photographic portraits together with specific audio tracks. When these two elements are combined the results, put simply, are amazing. The viewer is involved on a level much greater than experienced when simply viewing the image without audio – it immerses the viewer in a moment in time. It is that moment that underpins the joy and charm that makes Global Melody Project unlike any other.
Michael Agzarian