TruemorsSan Francisco
Tidy nap
Photo Properties
NP! ID: 791473
Title: Tidy nap
File Size: 240 × 185 – 27.56 KB
Created: Sat, 02/02/2008 - 11:43am
Modified: Sat, 02/02/2008 - 11:43am
File Type: image (jpeg)
Licence: None (All rights reserved)
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 11:55 on February 2nd, 2008
I take photos of people sleeping on the streets of San Francisco for a portfolio that I call "Hotel San Francisco". My purpose in doing this is to illustrate the conditions that we in The United States, the richest country in the world, allow our poorest members to suffer. With each shot that I snap I am hoping for a better, more humane world.
at 16:15 on February 2nd, 2008
WOW! I am stunned by this photo. The people that manage and subscribe to our group are/have been home-less. And, as such, we saw the side of humanity and inhumanity that many 'outsiders' attempting to make policy and budget decisions to 'manage us' do not even have a clue of what mental, physical and emotional toll 'being home-less' takes until it has happened to you.
People (observers and often service providers) sit back and basically, 'talk shit' about 'what should be done' with 'those homeless people' -- as if, we as individuals of a large and growing group of residents are somehow different than everyone else that still has their lives together. We are them. We were them.
They represent what we were and may represent how we will again, be like them, when we have the self esteem restored, the trauma, labelling, stigmas and abuse removed, then we can quickly move on to improve our lives with the least cost to society, as either being workers, paying income taxes, or if disabled, living safely in a protected by law environment which keeps them healthier and safer than the streets.
If your company closed and there was a recession (publicized or not) and you could n ot get a sufficient paying job, anyone could become homeless. And couple an event like that with let's say a divorce, a domestic violence problem (on your part or the other person's) and maybe some car problems that slows down your job hunt, and it's a high chance of waking up one morning, broke, stressed out and homeless.
And they pay sales tax when they go shopping.. the only difference is the state of mind and body that could be helped or hurt by the people that run the homeless services, in any given community.
Anyway, your pictures are heartbreaking and must be seen by everyone to begin to 'feel' what life is like for millions of americans.
Treating people without homes differently is some sickness like a denial or total 'group mentality' which is so unrealistic given the great diversity of all personality types and backgrounds of the people and families that do not have a stable, safe place to sleep and 'be'.
at 11:40 on February 6th, 2008
Thank you, SFHomeless.
I agree with all of your statements.
It seems people are all too eager to marginalize the homeless, to separate "Them" from "Us", when in fact we are all the same. And, in fact, many of us in the working and middle classes, carrying debt way beyond our means, are only a paycheck or two away from living on the street ourselves.
Thanks again for your comment. I will be looking into your group.