We’ve all heard the phrase “putting a face on homelessness” countless times. The idea is simple: provide some flesh and blood to let the rest of us grasp the larger problems of poverty.
It would be so easy to dismiss it as another tired cliche if it weren’t powerfully truthful. Consider “Lulu’s Story,” a multimedia piece on an 18-year-old Portland girl who has been homeless since losing her mother at the age of 12.
“Lulu’s Story” is part of a showcase of work on teenage homelessness at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. Since August, Salt has had an exhibit on Do1Thing.org, a national project that paired photographers with homeless youths around the country earlier this year.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because local photographers and Salt students took part in the project in February.
Photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark oversaw the project locally, and co-produced “Lulu’s Story” with Suzi Piker (an online producer for PressHerald.com and a Salt alumnus). It premiered Thursday in a special event at Salt.
The event, called “Do1Thing.org: An evening with the creators,” showcased photography from the Do1Thing project and a talk by Najlah Feanny Hicks, co-founder of Do1Thing.org, as well as Daley-Clark, Piker and Lurlene “Lulu” Dame, the subject of the piece.
For two weeks, Daley-Clark got to know Dame and followed her around, capturing her daily life around Portland. She got connected to Dame through the Preble Street Teen Center in Portland, which serves kids ages 14-20.
Dame, at 18, has lost most of her family. She found herself homeless around the same time most teenagers were entering high school. Her father, she says in the multimedia piece, is an alcoholic. The only choice left was to get out.
“Seeing a lot of people die, the last thing I want is to be in contact with someone who is killing themself (sic) slowly,” she says.
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3.10.10, 1:19 am
Here is the link to the story:
http://www.pressherald.com/archive/lulus-story-a-powerful-look-at-teenage-homelessness_2009-09-17.html
4.17.10, 12:39 am
I couldn’t help but notice the dichotomy of Lulu saying, while smoking a cigarette, that her mother died of lung cancer. Then she expressed a wish not to be around people, who were slowly killing themselves. Doesn’t she see the irony?
It looks like she’s in Portland, Maine vs Oregon (Preble St. & the Press Herald makes me think this). Its a bitter cold place to end up homeless. My family is originally from that area.
Having been a runaway teenager myself (starting at the age of 13), that usually happens when domestic violence is an issue. Typically kids find home safer than the streets, not the other way around.
I wish Lulu & her new little family all the best. They are in my prayers.