The Image Campaign
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The Image Campaign
Our mission for the photographic campaign is to put a human face to who the homeless are and to commence a visual dialogue with the non-homeless, in an effort to foster a feeling of connectivity to their fellow American. A professional photographer photographs homeless individuals that want their picture taken. We then return to them a laminated print for their keeping.
The purpose of photographing and returning the photo is twofold; We photograph the subject on a plain white backdrop to remove the individual from the daily context in which they live. Our goal is to offer the person their image as a frame of reference that is quite often a departure of how they view and feel about themselves or what is mirrored back to them by family, community, and/or society. The photograph offers an alternate perspective, a vehicle of sorts, for the subject to project their own thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams on to.
It isn’t uncommon for us to interview a homeless person in regards to what their hopes and dreams are for themselves, and have the person unable to answer the question directly. But when asked the same question holding their photo the individual was able to freely express their thoughts, hopes, and feelings while looking at themselves in the picture in second person reference.
