Peek into the rooms of millennials around the world (PHOTOS)

While it’s certainly fun to admire listing photos for pristine homes dressed up by famous designers, those images are nowhere near as interesting or insightful as getting a raw, unstaged look at how people really live. In a news series called “My Room Project,” French filmmaker and photographer John Thackwray takes us into the private spaces of one of the world’s most misunderstood groups: millennials.

As described by Thackwray (a millennial himself) on his site, he first started photographing his friends—young men and women born in the 80s and 90s—in their rooms several years ago. The project from there evolved into a global series that now counts more than a thousand participants in 55 countries.

A number of Thackwray’s subjects were referred to him by friends, while others he found through NGOs, social media, and by simply approaching people on the street. As such, My Room Project depicts individuals of varying classes, races, genders, and religions, and all sorts of homes ranging from a student’s yurt in Iran to a New Yorker’s green-walled, clothes strewn quarters.

“All these photographs are a testimony to the world that surrounds us,” Thackwray writes. “Combining visual anthropology and social photography, this conscious project make us aware of the diversity of lifestyles, destruction of our traditions and the rise of inequalities.”

As part of the project, Thackwray also interviewew his subjects, asking them about lifestyle, local issues, education, religion, or love. “Each person has their own story and they can talk about something that is wider and more universal,” he told Upworthy. “I’m trying to do a big story in a small one.”

Thackwray is turning the images and interviews into a book that will be released this December. You can reserve your copy of “My Room Project” here.

[Via UP]

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All images by John Thackwray