Do1Thing Blog

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.

READ the entire article here:

“Lulu’s Story”

Learn more about the photographer here:

Alex Daley-Clark

Learn more about the sound designer here:

Suzi

We’ve all heard the phrase “putting a face on homelessness” countless times. The idea is a simple one: show some flesh and blood to allow the rest of us to grasp the larger problems of poverty.

It’d be so easy to dismiss 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 teen homelessness at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies on Thursday starting at 7 p.m. Since August, Salt has featured an exhibit on Do1Thing.org, a national project that paired photographers with homeless youth around the country earlier this year.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because a number of 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 (a Salt alum, and  online producer for PressHerald.com) for Thursday’s event.

The event, called “Do1Thing.org: An evening with the creators,” will showcase the photography from the Do1Thing project and a talk from Najlah Feanny Hicks, co-founder of Do1Thing.

Read the entire ARTICLE IN THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD here.

View a preview of Lulu\’s Story here.

Do1Thing is proud to announce an evening at The SALT Institute for Documentary Studies showcasing the “Young Faces of Homelessness” photographic exhibit.

We’d love for everyone in the are to join us for the event.

Meet Founder Najlah Feanny Hicks and Do1Thing Director of Photography Alexandra Daley-Clark along with homeless teen Lulu at the gallery event.

UPCOMING EVENT:
Do1Thing.org: An evening with the co-founder [ + Fundraiser ]
September 17, 2009 // 7-8:30
@ Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
561 Congress Street // Portland, Maine
Free + Open to the public

Please bring an item donate from the list below. Monetary donations also welcome. In celebration of the current exhibit at Salt, Do1Thing.org: Young Faces of Homelessness, please join us for an evening with one of the creators of the project. Weʼre pleased to welcome Do1Thing.org Founder, former Newsweek photographer Najlah Feanny Hicks to speak about Do1Thing.org, which sheds light on young adult homelessness in Maine and around the country.

Several powerful and uplifting multimedia pieces will also be screened. In addition, we are excited to premiere Lulu’s Story, a multimedia piece produced by Mainers:
photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark, Director of Photography for Do1Thing.org, and audio and multimedia producer Suzi Piker, an alum of the Salt radio program. Their intimate portrait tells the story of a young woman who is currently experiencing homelessness in Portland, Maine.

In the Salt photo track I require my students to write about their field experiences during the semester. Feb 14, 2009 was their first required blog entry…

Here are a few excerpts from student field notes about the Do1Thing project:

…. we were connected with a twenty-one year old man named Dustin. Dustin was full of energy and optimism. It was clear after spending a few hours with Dustin that he has survived by emphasizing positive aspects of his life.

…When we arrived at the in-take center, the coordinator Jill greeted us in a very friendly manner. She introduced us to Elizabeth (name changed), 22, who thanked us for coming. It felt extremely humbling to receive her gratitude—as if we were doing her a favor, which is how she saw it: giving her a chance to tell her story. Before we photographed, it felt appropriate to let Elizabeth tell us her story. In retrospect, it was a good choice. Even though the good afternoon light slowly disappeared as she spoke, I would have felt disconnected photographing her without knowing her—or with only knowing her as a “victim”—and she would have been far less comfortable.

… Sheena was extremely open with us and told us a lot about her life and how she had ended up becoming homeless. It was quite an interesting experience for me as I’m not used to experiencing things like poverty and homelessness in my own country (with no language barrier to contend with). It made me feel far less removed from the situation, as if it were something that could just as easily have happened to me.

… Because I’ve wanted to work as a documentary photographer for awhile, I’ve had a lot of time to think about the issues WITHIN documentary photography but, until Saturday, I hadn’t really considered the issues of BEING a documentary photographer. After several hours in Lewiston with Dustin, hearing the story of how he’d been in state care since the age of 18 months, listening to how his mother had OD’ed twice while he was in the womb, and driving from shelter to shelter to shelter to see how he’d lived, I realized two things: 1) I owed my parents an apology and 2) I lacked faith. Regarding number two, I mean that I lacked faith in the belief system of documentary photography. Most specifically, the idea that, by documenting the life of someone in a state of crisis (whether that’s because of a medical condition, financial situation, war, etc.), I can show the world what these people are dealing with and the audience, in turn, can bring about change.

-Kate Philbrick

Director of Photography  Salt Institute for Documentary Studies