What is most important in life? Different answers to the same question, when asked hundreds of times to people around the world from an array of backgrounds, reveal both the shared values of humanity and the infinite complexity and diversity of the human experience. The Portrait Project is a photographic representation of each individual and their unique and illuminating answer.

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Ben Kostrzewa, founder of the Portrait Project, is a photojournalist and international trade lawyer. Ben started the Portrait Project in 2018, inspired by the chance to tell people’s stories and explore the diversity of human experience. Ben hopes that the Portrait Project can be a conduit for connection and understanding.

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Ben was born in Tianjin, China, and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Over the years, he traveled the world with his father, a professor who helped him develop a global view of world affairs.