ABOUT THE PROJECT
In July, I hosted a photography project at my local homeless shelter: Catching Lives. I’d been volunteering at the art workshops there since September and wanted to create a collaborative project of my own. I’ve always been interested in photography as a mechanism for expression and a catalyst for dialogue, so decided to use this as a way to engage the shelter users. The four project participants received disposable film cameras attached with a brief: My Canterbury. Once I got the photos developed, myself and the participants went through and selected our favourites. From there, I used Photoshop to edit the photos and InDesign to create a book which consisted of Polaroid photos of the participants, an about section, a selection of their best photos, and my paintings of each person.
REASONS FOR STARTING THE PROJECT
1) To showcase the artistic talents of the shelter users.
2) To use art to create a dialogue about what it means to be homeless.
3) To try and change common misconceptions and stereotypes associated with homelessness, through positing members of the shelters as artists in their own right.
4) To use the book to fund-raise for the shelter, putting the shelter users at the forefront of this process.
CURRENT STATE OF PROJECT
At the moment, the final edition of the book has been saved and I am in contact with various printing companies, to try and get the best deal for large-scale book printing. I am going to start by printing 60 books, selling them at £10 each, all money made going straight to the shelter. I am liaising with different organisations, and have given a talk at NADFAS, who are interested in buying some of the books and who have also awarded me a young artist award. My initial target is to raise £1,000.