Everybody judges, even if they don’t intend to. But to the extent this goes on, photographer Joel Parés seeks to make us all aware.

Once a U.S. Marine, this artistic activist has created a photo series that seeks to question the ugly prejudices that many of us harbor, to one extent or another, against groups of people different from ourselves.

Parés’ images at first present the viewer with characters symbolic of the prejudices suffered by various groups based on their ethnicity, socio-economic status, or sexual preference. Then, however, they show the real people behind these often false characters: the violent gangster turns out to be a Harvard graduate, and an exhausted gardener turns out to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

How do you really view others, and how might that affect your relationships and how you are, in return, also perceived?

“Many of us judge incorrectly by someone’s ethnicity, by their profession, and by their sexual interest,” Parés told PetaPixel. “The purpose of this series is to open our eyes and make us think twice before judging someone, because we all judge even if we try not to.”

Harvard graduate Jefferson Moon

New York City nurse Sahar Shaleem

Pastor/Missionary Jack Johnson

Fortune 500 CEO Edgar Gonzalez

Stanford Graduate School student Sammie Lee

Iraq Combat Veteran Jacob Williams

Widowed mother of 3 Jane Nguyen

iPhone app inventor Joseph Messer

Family outreach program founder Ben Alvarez

Famous painter Alexander Huffman

As pointed out in the comments section of PetaPixel, what necessarily makes a CEO of a Fortune 500 company any better than a dedicated gardener – no matter how dirty and disgruntled he may look? Such a perception is another way one might be prejudiced, and all must be taken into account if we are to objectively learn from what Joel has presented.

While it was part of the artist’s intent to ruffle some feathers, we’re curious as to what TrueActivist readers think of the collection. Share your comments below.