© Richard HuangSpain is a lively place. Its streets teem with people and traffic, and tourists are everywhere. Yet behind the clamor of the city, there is no shortage of solitary figures. I photographed a series of them.
© Richard HuangAs society ages, older people become especially vulnerable to loneliness: their physical abilities decline, and their social ties gradually fall away.
© Richard HuangA 2018 U.S. study, however, found that young people were more likely than the elderly to feel lonely. Living in a fiercely competitive society with a high cost of living and an uncertain future, they have chosen to withdraw into themselves. “Lying flat” has become their attitude toward life.
© Richard HuangLoneliness has become an urban epidemic, driven by an array of social, economic, and technological forces. Rapid urbanization may be one of them.
© Richard Huang
© Richard HuangIn most of these photographs, people have their heads bowed over their phones.
© Richard HuangToday, our phones are tools for communication and social interaction, and they can handle much of everyday life as well. A few swipes of a finger can accomplish almost anything. We truly are the “touchscreen generation.”
© Richard HuangAnd so we look to this virtual realm for ways to dispel our loneliness. We shed the disguises we wear in the real world, only to put on new masks in the virtual one.
© Richard HuangYet this “faceless socializing” makes our existence feel even more insubstantial, deepening rather than easing our loneliness and anxiety.
© Richard HuangThe mobile age has left us living increasingly immobile lives.
© Richard Huang
© Richard HuangBesides phones, pets also appear frequently in these photographs.
© Richard HuangWhen we feel insecure, a pet’s loyalty can offer at least a moment of comfort.
© Richard HuangHuman beings need companionship. When no one else is there, pets step into that role.
© Richard Huang
© Richard HuangModern living spaces grow ever more crowded, while the relationships between people become ever more distant. Human beings are strange creatures: we may not feel lonely when we are alone, yet can feel profoundly lonely in a crowd.
© Richard HuangI photographed this scene on Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia. Two gentlemen sit side by side—one absorbed in his newspaper, the other in his news feed. The old sight of people gathering in streets and lanes to discuss current affairs and shoot the breeze is becoming increasingly rare.
© Richard HuangI took this photograph in a pastry shop in Barcelona’s old quarter. Inside and outside the shop, within and beyond the mirror, in and beyond the frame—Strangers A, B, C, and D occupy the same space without their lives intersecting at all. What a curious world: in a little shop in faraway Europe, the people who happen to meet are Asians who have never met one another.
© Richard HuangSomeone once said, “The closest two people ever come is often the distance between them as they brush past each other.”
© Richard HuangSomeone else said, “In the instant we brushed past each other, my solitude recognized your loneliness.”
© Richard HuangThe bustling city plays its clamorous score around us, leaving behind one lonely figure after another…
© Richard Huang
© Richard HuangWhenever night falls, the commotion of the day fades and the lonely hours take the stage. On such solitary nights, sleep can be hard to find.
© Richard HuangThe quality of our sleep affects our physical health, and chronic insomnia can contribute to cardiovascular and mental illness. The epidemic of loneliness has become a serious problem in modern society.
© Richard HuangLoneliness, meanwhile, is impartial. Rich or poor, high or low, everyone lives with it close at hand…
© Richard Huang
© Richard HuangUltimately, people are afraid of loneliness, and they try many ways to resist it. Shopping and consumption have become another supposed remedy, using material desire to fill a spiritual void. But buying things out of loneliness brings no genuine happiness.
© Richard HuangOthers place their hopes in religious faith, seeking comfort there.
© Richard HuangPerhaps the best remedy is to maintain close and meaningful contact with family and friends. A greeting from loved ones far away can melt the loneliness of the journey…
© Richard HuangThe answer will be different for everyone, but one thing remains the same: we must learn to be at ease with ourselves.
Loneliness is an inescapable part of modern urban life. It already lives alongside us, and all we can do is face it with a positive spirit. If we can learn to be alone without feeling lonely, we will be free to set sail from the calm harbor within.