In 2007, photographer Richard Renaldi began an intriguing project called “Touching Strangers.” He decided to ask complete strangers on the street to embrace for a photograph, posing them as intimately, as if they were close friends, a couple in love or adoring family members.

Their body language sometimes makes it clear that these people never have before and never again will interact with each other, but other times you would have no idea that the people in these portraits have not known each other for their whole lives. For one fleeting moment, these people shared something very special.

The photos in this collection are awkward and heartwarming, strange and beautiful, emotional, poignant and uplifting. They’re unnatural, but so natural at the same time. They’re intimate and genuine. Richard Renaldi’s work portrays humanity in a way that we can certainly learn from. What would happen if people stopped assuming things about each other and treated those around them with respect and love? It’s easy to be quick to judge others in a negative way by how they look or the people they associate themselves with, and this kind of thought creates the potential for a great amount of hatred. There’s a lot that we miss about other people from just a glance when we pass them on the street. We all have more in common with each other than we could ever assume from mere looks. Often, even when people are not actively displaying their bigotry, it is present under the surface and results in negative judgement of others which can be more harmful than one may expect. We must take action to put more love into this world because we’ve got so many beautiful similarities and so many beautiful differences, too.

When speaking about the people Renaldi photographed, one review of this project from the Los Angeles Times stated, “They nearly always face the camera with a directness that hints of confrontation, challenge. Their expressions and their tenderness dare us to admit why the images surprise us.” Why is it so strange for these people to embrace? Are the barriers of class, race and age so ingrained in our culture that we’re shocked when these barriers are crossed? What makes a stranger so strange? This unexpected and unlikely physical connection Renaldi creates between people breaks down boundaries and opens possibilities for a world in which we can transcend these boundaries and mend them with love. The world would be a much more beautiful and caring place if we spread the love that Renaldi’s profound and moving work evokes.

Click here if you want to check out more of this beautiful project!