Were you surprised at the turnout?
I was very surprised at the turn out. I think it might have been an outer body experience because I don't know if I was there. I started to realize how massive it could be once I started to get approached several times a day by people who were telling me they needed to be at the photo shoot on Friday. Once it started to happen a lot, each day, I started to get a little bit nervous and realize almost every person I saw had said something to me about this photo shoot that I'm organizing and shooting. So, I did have an idea that it was going to be a lot bigger than last year, but I didn’t know if it was going to be 50 people or what.
I looked forward to the photo shoot all week and brought seven other people of color with me who knew nothing about it. Why do you think so many came this year?
I actually have no clue. People just seemed very excited to be a part of something that was so different for the environment that we were in. I'm hoping that they just saw the importance of representation for what that moment was going to be about. The Project isn't about Burning Man needing more people of color because there's just white people, it's that more people should be able to enjoy this amazing experience and there's a lot of us who aren’t experiencing it just because they just don't think it's for us and I don't think that's fair. I think the only way to know if it's for you is to see that you're there as in anything. We don't know it's possible until you see yourself there and I'm hoping that's one reason why people came. If one sees another do something different or do something that might seem a little bit scary to them, they might be more inclined to try it. And I think people just wanted to feel that camaraderie.