Via WeThePeopleDC.
By DCist contributor Rebecca Kraybill.
Meet @WeThePeopleDC, the Instagram project that shows off D.C. from the perspective of its user base.
The account gives one person one day to post photos and stories from their slice of life in the District.
Co-founders Macon Lowman and Katelyn Bryant-Comstock met in grad school in North Carolina, where they heard about a similar community project. When Bryant-Comstock moved back to D.C. after school, she got some flack about returning to the nation’s capital.
“People were telling me, D.C. kind of sucks. It’s all politics. Why would you live there?” Bryant-Comstock said.
So they created WeThePeopleDC to counter those strikingly common stereotypes and show that the city goes “leaps and bounds beyond what we can imagine of it,” Lowman said.
They organize participants through an online form and post tips for the day’s handler on their website. After participants are given the reins to take over the handle, they’re encouraged to post 5-10 photos throughout the day as they work, dine, or socialize. Tagging locations is welcomed.
Since the project kicked off in February, 200 people have already showcased their days—days that Bryant-Comstock and Lowman say continue to surprise them.
Like the time President Barack Obama dropped by the Department of Energy the day a woman there was holding the handle. Or the woman who told the founders that she was inspired to apply to a teaching position after seeing one of the posts.
The project also bears the everyday signs of D.C. living. Dogs, exercise, food, monuments, small businesses, and street art are popular posts, among others. “And we do love our coffee,” Bryant-Comstock said.
Lowman said she has enjoyed learning the history of neighborhoods and art that goes beyond the Smithsonian museums.
The co-founders are dreaming big about the project: they’d like to reach 10,000 followers and host a meet-up some day. But for now, they’re hoping to make the handle more diverse to show more neighborhoods and people.
“What’s amazing is the variety of the city and how much of a community it really is,” Bryant-Comstock said.
