Proposal

Every day seven people are becoming homeless in Dublin. This figure appears on the pre-budget submission to the Government, Put People First, by Ireland Focus; A non-profit organization that works with homeless providing different types of services.

The idea of working with homeless people started about three years ago when I was on holidays in Ireland. Walking through the city center of Dublin I often come across several homeless. Once, for no special reason, and as I had some coins in my pocket I gave some money to one of them. I can’t clearly remember how it happened but when I noticed we were having a nice conversation.  I sat on the bridge by his side for about half hour. He then told me several things about his life, his family and how he ended up on that situation. In that moment, which was crucial for this project, I realized that just like me, you, or anyone else they also have a Story to tell, feelings, and the need to be heard. I realized how invisible homeless usually are for the people who walk by everyday.

Therefore, I propose to compare and contrast the reality of homeless people to what society depicts them through photography, as well as to portray homeless out of the common stereotyped image of them miserable on the streets. Thus, composing a body of work that aims to humanize the homeless figure before society. Now, that I am a second year student of journalism, I see this moment as the perfect opportunity to finally concretize this project through visual aids.

I will start this project visiting Ireland Focus and Simon Community; both are organizations, which deal with homeless. They offer many different kinds of services, for example: after care programmes, rehab, classes and work shops. I will be in touch with people from all these different programmes but I will be focusing mainly on support housing projects. Thereby, following them on these daily life activities, I hope to photography them on the most diverse and common situations. For instance: eating, laughing, having a chat with friends, cooking, etc. Thus, depicting them as ordinary people. However, to compare and contrast their real lives to the image that society reproduces of them I will also go to the city center of Dublin to take pictures of beggars and of them wandering on the streets. I will interact with homeless from several ‘stages’, since rough sleepers, through people who have just come out of the streets, to someone who have had access to supporting programmes and nowadays can have an independent living. This project should last from November 2013 to April 2014.

This work will result in a photo book that is for and targeted at the whole society. Aiming to disseminate the importance of the work produced by organizations such as Simon Community and Focus Ireland, to reduce prejudice towards homeless, and to serve somehow as their voice and their ‘humanization’. I will evaluate the interest of the participants in engaging to it to measure the progress of my work, as this book should serve as their voice if the homeless are not so keen to take part in it, it is because somehow this is not representing them.

The objective of my photo book is to address the issue of negligence with homeless. Negligence not only from a Government, who may not have given enough conditions for these people to restructure their lives, but also from us who have forgotten to look at them as humans. Along these lines, I wish to confront the limitation of society of looking at them as mere stereotyped objects. I believe each one of them has a single story that deserves to be known through this photo book.