One night I received a text from my friend Jon, a homeless young man who lives in a tent in Rochester New York. Jon sent me a link to a project done by Rethink Homelessness, an initiative of the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness. They asked homeless people to write down something about themselves they wanted others to know, and then were photographed holding the sign. Inspired by the images that gave people a voice, Jon suggested I take on the project which led me to introduce the idea to the students of my social reportage class at the Flower City Arts Center. While this session has been dedicated to documenting the Open Door Mission’s soon to open women and children’s shelter and the families that will be living there, the class incorporated what we now call, The Sign Project.
Starting out on the fieldwork all roads seemed to lead to St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in the South Wedge neighborhood of Rochester. There students immersed themselves in the lives of the patrons, enjoying dinner and conversation with some pretty cool characters. I once read the quote,
“How do you take pictures of somebody in a way that brings them to the table instead of putting them on the menu?” – Sharita Towne
I’ve since pondered that and with The Sign Project, I have seen it in action. Through this project the people we encountered had a voice. They were not just a subject in a photo, but instead they made a statement through their written words combined with the images created by the student photographers.
In May, Flower City Arts Center will be hosting an exhibition of images from The Sign Project celebrating the diverse men and women we worked with. This exhibit will be held at St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality with more info to come…stay tuned!