The "Luxembourg and Greater Region European Capital of Culture" - year is over, but young people might keep a souvenir of a photography experience based on the "Family of Man" project realised by the American photographer of Luxembourg origins, Edward Steichen, in the 1950s. Steichen thought that in every country, people have certain things in common and that they all share the wish for freedom, the search for happiness, the hope for peace.

We wondered what were young people's deams and wishes, today, some 50 years later. But instead of questioning once more the older generations or photographers, we invited them to take pictures of their life and share them with other young people on the modern way to transmit contents: the Internet.

www.foma.lu

Today hundreds of pictures sent in by young people from all over the world are still visible on a homepage www.foma.lu. "Family of Man 2007" is a gallery of virtual photos of images contributed by young people aged 15 to 26 years. The website mirrors the life and concerns of youth all over the world. The contributions cover 23 subjects from love, joy and family to discrimination, unemployment, youth culture, leisure activities, work etc.

The very best pictures were printed and are still shown in every school that expresses the desire to organise an exhibition.

This project was open to everyone. Thus the Internet became the vehicle for a high-level communication and reflection on young people's life. The pedagogical background and educational follow-up made it a project going much fearther than a simple online foto project. This is what makes the difference compared to Edward Steichen’s “Family of Man” that was not specifically "talking" to the young one's.

The "foma2007" project, although planned and designed to have a worldwide character, still leaves the option to every single person to put together an own personal “Family of Man”, organise an own exhibition or create a tool to be used in school, as long as the terms of the creative common license are respected. Steichen's work is steady, not to be put into pieces and recomposed. For the "Family of Man 2007" makers the Internet is not only a nice communication tool, but a mean to proove that young people are able to think about their life, to take a photography and to show the world that they are able to use the web in a responsible way.

Francine Cocard, Medienpädagogin