Think! Gallery - Photovoice
PHOTOVOICE
Exploring the Expereince of a Housing Crisis
Photovoice is a grass-roots initiative often implemented by individuals and communities that are marginalized. Individuals create a photograph with an accompanying narrative to raise awareness and educate others about their perspective and the need for action and advocacy.
In 2010, a group of women and men experiencing a housing crisis set out to photograph the places, scenes, and moments around Allegheny County that captured what homelessness meant to them.
With the support of our community partner Community Human Services and Michael Yonas, PhD, these women and men used the Photovoice approach to record and reflect their own experiences, strengths, and concerns. By sharing real, individual experiences, the Photovoice Project seeks to promote critical dialogue and enhance knowledge about living in a housing crisis and to inform awareness, resources, services and policies designed to assist people experiencing homelessness.
"To me it looks saddened because for people who don't have places to live and people who just come in and write things all over it. … That's not right."
Well, you guys have kind of instilled that in me, you know what I mean, the hopefulness, so I appreciate that, just hearing everybody’s stories and you know then you don’t feel so alone in this. I’ve felt so incredibly alone in this. For the longest time even after I was well in a home, feel incredibly alone without supports
"I was actually what they call a co-dependent. Not an alcoholic but I gravitated toward those places when I had nobody around me."
It’s always around you when you’re in a housing crisis, there is that moment that… that swirl of despair, I means it’s always gray, you know where is the sunlight… Anything?!
I also think because its where we’ve been, [it’s] an obligation and a responsibility to help the next person. Even it it’s just with information.
I’m just saying that its really important to have a good support system whether its church or family because that’s how you build a bridge.
A lot of people don’t [have access to resources], and that’s why they can be trampled on even more. People really get taken advantage of because of their ignorance. Their lack of knowledge
