Challenging the Visual Stereotypes Associated with Documenting Homelessness
Homelessness and poverty are not uncommon subjects for the photographer’s lens. Subjects are
in plain sight and easily accessible. However, photographers more often capture them in situ, in doorways and alleyways, surrounded by visual cues that have become recognisable codes of poverty and deprivation.
This approach has two major negatives. Firstly, society has learned a series of semiotic cues associated with homelessness. This stereotypical imagery elicits a perceived sense of learned helplessness in the individual shown in the photograph, encouraging a fatalistic inaction in the viewer. In essence, these images foster visual homelessness tropes rather than empathy toward the subject.
By deliberately showing images of the founder, helpers, and homeless subjects without captions, this project challenges the viewer to decide for themselves the exact identities of the subjects shown. By avoiding familiar visual cues and codes of homelessness in the subjects and their environment, the work asks the viewer to make uncomfortable choices about who is who.
Furthermore, we asked all subjects to describe their long-term aspirations. The results show a surprising degree of overlap, once again challenging the stereotypes of the homeless as individuals who have simply made poor choices and allowed themselves to become vulnerable and incapable of making significant changes to their circumstances given the right opportunity.
