Los
Angeles Independent, City Beat, June
2 1993
Homeless document their day-to-day lives
by Lee Condon,
A revealing film about the lives of Southern California's
homeless called “Through Our Own Eyes” Self-Portraits
By People WIthout Homes,” is coming to West Hollywood's
City Channel 10 throughout August. Photo-artist Jean Ferro
commissioned 30 people without homes to photography whatever
they wanted with disposable cameras. The film brings their
day-to-day experiences, friendships and emotions to the screen.
“Through Our Own Eyes” will show on City Channel
10 throughout the month of August.
Homeless
document their day-to-day lives
by Lee Condon (June 2 1993)
Jean
Ferro has seen a lot of the photography that has attempted
to chronicle the plight of the homeless In America's cities,
but she always felt something was missing.
“Most
of the people looked very down and depressed,” she says.
“I kept thinking there must be more to it then that.”
But
instead of going out and photographing the homeless herself
she passed the chore of picture taking onto her subjects.
A
self-portrait artist, Ferro felt they could do a better job
of telling their story with photos than she could.
She
went to several homeless enclaves Downtown and introduced
herself to 30 people without homes. She gave them each a disposable
camera and asked them to take 24 pictures of their life as
they see it.
“I
never felt uncomfortable going from my environment to their
environment.” says Ferro from her Rossmore Ave. apartment.
“I wanted their point of view.”
The
result of Ferro's collaboration with these 30 individuals
is a film she pieced together from the photographs along with
co-producer Julia Pierrepont III, Rita Provost composed the
original music for the movie, which aired on public access
television last week under the title “Through Our Own
Eyes, Self-Portraits by People Without Homes.”
Sure,
there are the standard pictures of people sleeping in alleyways
that look much like the depressing pictures photographers
have been shooting for years. But there are others that capture
the friendship between people sharing their lives on the street
together.
Ferro
brought a tape recorder along on her visits and it is her
conversations with the amateur photographers that provide
the narration for the film.
“Those
cameras are terrific,” says one subject in the video,
Vincent Richards, thumbing through his photos. “It's
not me, it's the camera.”
Richards
took pictures of the food lines that people wait on at the
Downtown missions.
Other
people took pictures of their friends. “Let's take one
together, “ says another photographer, Ann Cunningham,
upon receiving her camera and gathering her pals for a group
shot.
Some
took pictures of familiar downtown sites, others just shot
their surroundings or random people they see every day.
Ferro
whose project was funded in part by a grant from the Cultural
Affairs Department, paid the homeless people to participate
in the project. They received $5 to start the project, $15
when they returned the camera and $10 when Ferro returned
to show them their work and present them with a small photo
album of their picture.
“The
money did not seem to be the motivating factor,” says
Ferro. “It ws the idea of the camera. When I came back
with the photo albums, they were so happy.”
While
the people she worked with on the project obviously have very
difficult lives Ferro says she thinks it shows there's more
to living as a homeless person than what has been shown in
media reports.
“It
doesn't mean you can't have love or happiness or joy in your
life”. She says