Purpose

The purpose of this project is to help serve as a bridge between homeless youth and the "general" public. By bringing these two communities together, I hope to create an environment where both sides can learn about and from each other, candid conversation can occur, and ideas for action can be generated.

Summary

1. Portraits of youth
2. Photos taken by youth
3. Exhibition with a combination of photography, zines (written work), and talks

Portraits of youth

I would like to create portraits of willing youth aged 18-25. In doing so, I hope to put names and faces together, to un-anonymize a group of people who are often denied an individual identity. I will be working with UDYC who hires homeless youth to create zines.

Photos taken by youth

Each youth will be given a disposable camera to take with them through their six weeks of the Zine project. They are free to take pictures of anything that helps them share their story. If they want, we can provide prompts to help organize their thoughts and themes. At the end of the six weeks, I'll collect the cameras, develop them, print, and frame them for exhibition. The youth will get a copy of the prints as well as all of the original files for them to have and use anyway they wish.

Exhibition

When the photographs are prepared, I hope to find a location that will allow us to showcase our work for at least 30 days. For the opening, I would like to invite the participating youth to speak about their work and the inspirations and stories behind them. I have relationships at The HUB, BGI, and others that can serve as a backup locations to a standing gallery.

Also, this might be a good venue to sell the zines and spread the work UDYC is doing with the Zine project.