For the first two weeks of May, there was a very special exhibit at one of the local art stores. Known for highlighting local talent, Artists on Elgin hosted a show entitled Living on the outside.
Presented by a local organization known as the Poverty, Homelessness and Migration Project Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy, the exhibit featured photographs created by homeless persons and near homeless persons living in Sudbury. The pictures portray in graphic detail the realities that the homeless live with every day.
Along with the exhibit, a small booklet was also created which contained some of the pictures as well as text depicting some reflections from the homeless. This reader noticed that most of the contributing authors only identified themselves by first names (or were they pseudonyms?). The pictures were not doctored, but rather strove to portray the reality of life on the streets.
Ours is not a large city by any means, yet we seem to have an inordinate amount of street people. In some respects these are a different breed. Among them are many who struggle with addictions of various kinds, others who are mentally ill, some who have been evicted because of any range of excuses, and still others who have yet different stories to tell. In many ways, these are the invisibles of our society because so many of the haves in our world prefer not to see the have-nots (or maybe they themselves prefer it that way).
I wonder sometimes who would be changed if things were different, if some of the fortunates among us had a chance to care for some of the less fortunates, or if some of the struggling among us had a chance to truly believe (even just for a moment) that someone else in the world truly cared about them, or better yet, that someone else cared for them.
Presented by a local organization known as the Poverty, Homelessness and Migration Project Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy, the exhibit featured photographs created by homeless persons and near homeless persons living in Sudbury. The pictures portray in graphic detail the realities that the homeless live with every day.
Along with the exhibit, a small booklet was also created which contained some of the pictures as well as text depicting some reflections from the homeless. This reader noticed that most of the contributing authors only identified themselves by first names (or were they pseudonyms?). The pictures were not doctored, but rather strove to portray the reality of life on the streets.
Ours is not a large city by any means, yet we seem to have an inordinate amount of street people. In some respects these are a different breed. Among them are many who struggle with addictions of various kinds, others who are mentally ill, some who have been evicted because of any range of excuses, and still others who have yet different stories to tell. In many ways, these are the invisibles of our society because so many of the haves in our world prefer not to see the have-nots (or maybe they themselves prefer it that way).
I wonder sometimes who would be changed if things were different, if some of the fortunates among us had a chance to care for some of the less fortunates, or if some of the struggling among us had a chance to truly believe (even just for a moment) that someone else in the world truly cared about them, or better yet, that someone else cared for them.
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