Bristol Homelessness Awareness Week: A Photo Series

 This week, from the 18th to the 25th of February, is Homelessness Awareness Week in Bristol. We want to kick off the week by showcasing some pictures with you that powerfully capture the reality faced by rough sleepers every day. Images are the most effective way to give justice to all those who struggle to raise their voices and are usually silent; they are the best way to honour the people that live behind the statistics. We have chosen some shots by photographers who – instead of just stealing pictures at a distance - decided to interact with homeless people, in order to go beyond the prejudices and connect with them.

Lee Jeffries was only an amateur photographer when he took the first picture of a homeless person in London. He tried to capture the image of an 18-year-old girl with evident addiction problems, who was rolled up in a sleeping bag among food containers. He used a long lens from a distance, but the girl noticed him. She was understandably upset and started shouting at him; however, instead of sneaking off, Jeffries decided to approach her and apologise. He listened to her story and discovered that she had lost both of her parents and, as a consequence, had no place to go. On that day, Jeffries realised that his passion for photography could be something more than a hobby: it could become a useful tool to draw attention on homelessness and raise funds for charities. He started a self-funded project and took dozens of emotional portraits of rough sleepers around the world, listening to their stories and connecting with them on a deeper level.

"I’m stepping into their world. Everyone else walks by like the homeless are invisible. I’m stepping through the fear, in the hope that people will realise these people are just like me and you". 

More pictures can be found on Jeffries’ personal website.

A similar approach is adopted by Shine Gonzalvez, who discovered her passion for photography in her adult life. She started taking portraits of people who live in the streets of London after meeting Steve, a homeless man who had not spoken to anyone in days. She realised that urban photographers rarely take pictures of the homeless; this makes them almost invisible, although every one of them has his or her own story that deserves to be told. Like the one of the homeless man that waits for the same train every day, looking for a person that never arrives, or the one of a Polish former military man that has no form of identification and is therefore forced to live on the streets.

“The subject matter, although difficult, is not meant to force the viewer into a sense of pity. Rather, I am trying to give the subjects the dignity that maybe society all too often denies them.”

If you are interested in Gonzalvez’s work, you can visit her gallery here.

David Hoffman has been photographing social issues since the 1970s. Seeing photography as a means of denouncing the increasing control of the state over people’s lives, his subjects include racial and social conflicts, drugs, poverty and homelessness. He works independently and is a passionate activist. Here are two of his shots, which can be found on his personal website.

Finally, we would like to share a couple of pictures from a crowdfunded project that involved homeless people in London and that resulted in a calendar entitled MyLondon 2017. The aim of the project consisted in giving disposable cameras to rough sleepers and let them unload their creativity, in order to empower them and connect them with the wider community. This project is organised every year by Café Art, a social enterprise that works with homeless people and allows them to show their talent to the public and earn an income from their artworks. For more information and pictures, visit Café Art’s website.

Just like these amazing photographers and Café Art, No More Taboo aims to connect with homeless people in order to improve the quality of their lives. In particular, our project focuses on tackling period poverty and raising awareness about the hygiene and health difficulties that women living on the streets have to face. We want to build relationships with shelters and organisations to make sure that homeless women have a safe place to stay, free from taboos surrounding menstruation. We also aim to spread the word about reusable sanitary products that not only can contribute to save the Earth (and your savings!), but also help homeless women. In fact, the proceeds from the selling of our menstrual cups and organic pads are used to fund charitable projects and workshops that intend to empower women.