Documenting Homelessness

Awareness of homelessness is at an all-time high, and yet those experiencing homelessness are still invisible…their lives ignored, their stories unheard. For most of us, “the homeless” are not people at all, they are a social ill; a problem to be dealt with by someone other than us. To dehumanize someone is to deprive them of human qualities and dignity. That is what we do with people who are experiencing homelessness, we rob them of their humanity.

And yet they are people like us. People are homeless for many reasons – domestic violence, sexual abuse, aging out of foster care, loss of a job, incarceration, eviction, a relationship that ended, health issues, mental health issues. For some it can be as simple as a parking ticket or a towed car. While no two people share the same story, they all share one vital characteristic; they are all part of our community, part of our society, part of us.

Three years ago, I began documenting the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness on the streets of Oakland. My goal is to use my images to remind us all of our shared humanity, to show you that people without homes are still people, to take you someplace you’ve never been before.