Gueorgui Pinkhassov “I chose this photograph simply because it touches me in some way. I'm not sure why, exactly. Nothing in particular is going on here. A street scene in the Latin Quarter in Paris, that's all. But i
(...) t's possible that, like me, someone else might feel touched by it as well. By its warmth, proportions, overall harmony. But what does this have to do with the stated theme, ‘Empathy’?
We were asked to select an image that relates to compassion. I have quite a few photographs that are capable of eliciting empathy. But I decided to choose this light-filled one. I think that beauty will make a person kinder more quickly than admonitions.
Empathy is that rare point of intersection between ethics and aesthetics. Something that all the great humanists eventually arrive at. ‘That which is aesthetically perfect is ethically noble.’ Or, as Dostoyevsky so aptly put it: ‘Beauty will save the world.’"
– Gueorgui Pinkhassov © Gueorgui Pinkhassov | Magnum Photos
