Where do I start to Blog about a topic that has been on my
mind for almost 20 years? When I
moved to Miami in January 1993 the problems between homeless people and the
City of Miami was already happening. I was in major culture shock arriving from
the Midwest to a city where English is not the primary language. Then to have
homeless people trying to wash my windshield at every stop light and seeing communities
of people living in plywood boxes certainly made me question what was going on
in this world.
I have this strong personal curiosity. What are the daily lives of these
people like? What do their shacks look like on the inside? How do they feel
about living like this? I ask
questions about people a lot in life. It is one thing to have a thought. It is
another thing to be brave enough to go up and introduce yourself and start
asking these questions.
At first I took friends along with me to these camps but
after one trip none of them wanted to do it again. Not even my boyfriend!
It would have been really helpful to have a Spanish translator but I
learned to not allow the language barrier to hold me back. One thing I knew for
sure no one had the passion that I had for this story. If I wanted to do this
project than I had to be brave enough to do it alone, and I did.
Creating images was one task. Getting the story out to the
public was been a whole new set of obstacles. People
get excited to hear about my personal work until I use the buzz words “homeless
people” or “sex offenders.” Once I do that
the conversation drops like a lead balloon.
I’m not here to tell you how to think or feel about our
social abnormalities. It is not my
place to tell you what is right or wrong. I am simply here to share the journey
I took and the viewers can make up their own minds about what to do with the
information.
Through the process of this documentary I learned about
myself. At first I wanted to help everyone. Only I am one person and those that
I wanted to help by far out number me. So how do I help them? I am not social worker. I am not
homeless advocate. I am not a lawyer or a philanthropist. I am not any of those people nor will I
ever be in those roles. What I am is a visual artist with a story to tell. It
is time to share the stories and to start a fresh dialogue about our humanity
and topic of homelessness in America.
Finishing this project will require funding. I would like to
photograph more as the middle class increasingly swell into the ranks of the
homeless. Or I can accept that what I have done is enough and try to get a
large exhibition into some venues where the public can experience this imagery.
Please visit my webpage and look at my images with this
story:
I also have a professional presence on Facebook where I will
list my Blog updates:
My professional work can be viewed at http://www.marylou.us
