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“Orcs of New York” Parody Facebook page

The Humans of New York Facebook page has done much to capture the zeitgeist of the city in the 21st Century, but a parody account is highlighting the experiences of orcs.

Orcs of New York, set up by actor and artist Harry Aspinwall, the project has a stated aim of “Giving a face to the Mordor diaspora in New York, one orc at a time.” Talking about his project in greater depth, Aspinwall said:

This project has been a labour of love, and it means the world to me that so many people have taken an interest and want to help raise awareness about a people so often maligned and misunderstood. For many years I’ve felt that orcish culture has a beauty that goes unappreciated and underrepresented in the mainstream media, even while orcish people make up an ever growing proportion of our city. It’s time they stood in the spotlight.

“I grew up in a traditional household. I took weekly lessons in Black Speech, and my parents wanted me to get an engineering degree. I ended up with a BA in psych and visual art. They were pretty good about it.”

Aspinwall also says:

Humans of New York has done so much for helping nurture understanding between different humans all over the world at this point. Having “humans” in the name made me want to take it one step further and bridge the gap to other anthropoid species. After all, we all have to get along. [..] Under the superficial differences – the skin colour, the accents and language, the bones, ritual scarification and war paint – we’re all pretty much the same, living, feeling creatures.

Visit: Orcs of New York.

About the Author: The Tolkien Society
The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and worldwide membership organisation devoted to promoting research into, and educating the public in, the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Society organises regular events (such as Oxonmoot and Tolkien Reading Day), publishes regular books and journal (such as Amon Hen and Mallorn), and is working towards a permanent home to Tolkien in the UK.