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IN EARLY JUNE, Jason Storbakken distributed disposable cameras to 10 homeless residents of New York City.
Storbakken, the director of chapel and compassionate care at The Bowery Mission and author of “Radical Spirituality: Repentance, Resistance, Revolution,” directed each photographer to capture “things they hoped others might see.”
Here, Storbakken has allowed us to run photos from the project, along with the photographers’ statements.
For more information on the project and the Bowery Mission, visit OneGlimpse.org.
The photos from this project have been curated into a show called “Through My Lens,” which will spend the next year in various locations around New York City.
“That dog always runs up on me. But she’s nice. Her name is Pam.” – Robert Perry
First, the show will be displayed at the Bowery Mission Fellowship Hall as a counterpart to the Lower East Side Art Drive, a silent auction of professional artwork held next door at the New Museum on Sunday, December 14.
“This reminds me of my mom — the lady leg and the big splotch over the rest of her. She left me when I was two.” – Robert Perry
The show is dedicated to Robert Perry, the photographer who took the photo below and the two previous, who was hit and killed by a New York City driver earlier this fall.
“I’ve been homeless on and off since I was twelve. I never really had a bed. This bed looks beautiful … like a dream. I usually sleep in The Bowery Mission or on a park bench or I take the A train to Far Rockaway and back three times and that gets me some sleep. I’m 57 now.” – Robert Perry
“This is the grandstand at the Aqueduct. They are keeping the track decent in the off-season. I like to watch the planes land. Kennedy airport is in the background. Watching the planes from the grandstand inspire me to think about traveling – the quest to travel!” – Sean Collins
“I know Mikey for over twenty years, before he was blind. He used to sell loosies and joints. I was fifteen when we met. He was about forty. He’s been around the Bowery since the ’80s. When I was on the street he would let me stay at his house sometimes and shower and get something to eat.” – Laurie Nixon
“This is the front of Central Booking. The police were taking a person in. It’s hard to see him, but he’s behind the police car. Every time I see this building and these kinds of situations it is a reminder to stay out of trouble. I’ve never been in jail and I don’t want to go.” – Frank M. Oquendo
“This bus takes people to Atlantic City. You pay about twelve dollars for a round-trip ticket, but they give you a card with about seventeen dollars on it to gamble, but you can cash it out and make a few bucks. You get to sleep three hours each way and you can also sleep at the casino for a few hours.
“Some guys gamble and when they lose their money they return angry and tired because they stayed up all night. The casino bus is a way to get some sleep, a few bucks, and to get away from the city for a while.” – Frank M. Oquendo
“That’s where I park my cart for scrap. They let me park it there. This is all my scrap and belongings. My personal belongings are in the shopping cart. I hide it by the library sometimes so that I can move around easier. I can make from twenty dollars a day up to two hundred dollars on a really good day.” – Dennis Brown
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Now that’s a city with a challenging homeless problem. 60,000 people every night sleep in shelters. Surely the 23 charities that get money to sort Dublins could do something permanent.
Imagine taking one of the closed down hotels and opening it for the homeless and charging a nominal few €uro per night to let them stay – but interview all the homeless who would avail of the hotel with a view to them running it themselves or in partnership with a charity for non-profit. I wonder how it would work. Would it flourish or come crashing down?
For a nominal few quid they could be given a lease, for their “apartment”… Or whatever the paperwork is required to satisfy the fixed address element to get social welfare. With that they can start to get on track and toward more security into the future. … But the first step is a roof over their heads
Homeless people running a hotel, I give it a day, at best. Cop on.
At last a sensible voice. You have to help yourself first and foremost.
The narrative from these homeless people is so basic and cuts to the core of any human being, you can’t help but be moved. It has literally made them more human than a problem.
Liek dis if u crie everytiem
I cry
“That dog always runs up on me. But she’s nice” in case you need a dog bed, and would like to make it on your own – this guide is pretty good http://howtomakeadogbed.com/
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