The Language Of Light

Joya: "The Greyhound station was a place of hope. On cold days I lived there with nowhere to go. I had become a limping being and couldn't walk as far as others. When I had nowhere to turn my belongings, I used the lockers ... the restroom or a nap until dinner ... This was the coldest winter of my life it seened. Sometimes I would crochet, but I always thank God for another day. The fear is still in me ... I hope never to feel hopeless ... [To the homeless] I would say, 'be patient with yourself; know that it's a chronic condition if you let it be' ... I learned to love my fellow man at the 'Y' ... [In the window, birds] came along and put a nest in there and made some babies. So then I couldn't move right away [into Courthouse Square apartments]. I had to pay rent an extra month to make sure they were OK. I didn't want them homeless ... I kept saying, 'His eye is on the sparrow and I know He's watching me.'"

Jessica: "These guys. I think, are from South America [at Art Fair]. It's amazing that, you know, people from different countries hear about this Ann Arbor place and they come over just to perform for us, and it was totally awesome ... There was a cello player with this big honkin' cello and a saxophone player - a little Bill Clinton ... I thought he was kind of cute."

ABOVE
[Al:] "At Barton Park, this picture shows the waterfalls and when you [stand on top of them and] turn 180 degrees, the same water is calm. The waterfall represents danger and power and to be careful while the opposite represents the calmness in life - the use for canoeing, boating, fishing and swimming. The moral is life can seem hectic and dangerous, but turn around and it is calm and restful."

BELOW
Al: "Here's a shopping center [Westgate] where every square foot was taken ... and you go the other way [to Maple Village across Jackson Rd.] and half the shopes are empty...It's where you take a step in the right direction, you're lucky and have a successful shopping center or success in life, or you go the other way - it's only a hundred feet, life's such a fine line which way you are going to fall - success/failure. But just because you're a failure doesn't mean you can't get back up, redecorate those shopping centers, put a new front in there, new asphalt ..."

Mark: It's in front of Borders, my favorite. That's the day [after an eye injury] when I couldn't focus my eyes so I ran [the photos] together ... this seemed appropriate for my mood." Mark explains the injury came from a fellow Shelter client who hit him with a metal chair  and broke his eye socket bone in three places. Mark says he suspects the man who attacked him is schizophrenic, "and in my opinion, there does not belong in a shelter ... This is the first time in my life I have been the victim of a "fag bashing" and I came out when I was 17. I have accomplished a great many things in my life and mainstream society has been generally very tolerant of my sexuality ... I spent two years in prison, and even there the guys were tolerant ... I am annoyed that now that I am a homeless person, it is an individual in the same predicament who nearly killed me (Incidentally, I refuse to prosecute this man because having been in prison I know the terrible fate of the mentally ill there). I want my life back. I want and need loving friends and family. I want to be accepted just as I am. I need a home because in the shelter I very probably will die."

LEFT
Art: "You find these little telltale [signs of drinking by homeless people] all over town. Every certain bottle has a story, I believe, and the way it reflects on us. The light reflects on this bottle and it's a reflection of somebody's life there - this is what's holding them back, this is their own little prison."

MIDDLE
[Art:] "I can tell some people's style: pennies represent Joey 'cause he'll panhandle all day, sort silver and bills, and drop the pennies where ever he's sitting [drinking] ... He doesn't value the penny but he values the bottle."

RIGHT
[Art:] "This is me standing on top of this trash can ... I call it Homeless Person's Treasure Chest .... For some people in this situation it's a way of life...[But the public associates all] homeless people as bums and can-diggers and it's stereotypical of people to do that ... I honestly have never picked up a can before unless it was off my back porch, other than that I never have."

Tim: "There are those who work and get paid. There are those who work and feel like they aren't really paid. There are few, however, who receive anything without truly working. This problem exists because of some laziness on some people's parts. Some can work and don't, and they receive DSI and other government benefits, while at the same time there are those who have real disabilities and work their butts off and receive no assistance. [We should] get on the case of the slackers as much as we can."

Johnny: "I have to find a place here, to live, to be close to the University [Hospital] so I can have my follow-ups and medications [for psoriasis] ... It's a slow progress but it's keeping my skin clear ... I couldn't do that in Detroit. I couldn't come here and go back ... The social worker suggested 'You'll just have to stay in the shelter if you're going to stay on the medication ...' and that's what I'm here for ... [my family] don't know anything about me staying in the shelter."

Jim: "I ran into these kids in Ypsilanti, and asked if I could take a picture of their dog. I asked 'can your dog smile?', and they laughed when I cracked that joke. As I picked up the camera, the dog posed like that ... I like to photograph animals because I trust them more than people."

UPPER RIGHT
Armenia: "This photo of the woman with all the shopping carts, I call this Somebody's Mother, 'cause people forget she had family once."

RIGHT
[Armenia:] "I chose this picture of the Lord's supper not only for its startling beautiful design; when the sun shone on the artist's work it hit me in the face. It made me think of my spiritual journey and my love for my fellow man. In man ways my life has been similar to the photograph because I too have sat at many suppers that were my last, only to be betrayed later by people that I thought loved me, people who cared for me."

BELOW
[Thomas:] "The lake scenes are the happy life, when you get off drugs you notice and you can experience that life is beautiful again, once you're not using."

BELOW
Thomas: "This symbolizes that if you continue using drugs, you end up dead or institutionalized - the Shelter symbolizes an institution ... What I see here is a lot of dispair, hopelessness, derilection, just the end - that's it, that's all, folks. But on the flip side it's a new beginning. I saw it as the opportunity to take a look and say 'I don't want to be here [in the shelter] just be here as long as I have to be here' ... A chance to re-examine my life, how I got here, what do I do to get out of here and how do I not come back here again ... I think that unless we as homeless get our lives together and accept life exactly for what it is and try to work on problems and find solutions instead of always living with problems, then this is where we'll be - living under a bridge, in a shelter, or in a cemetary."

Gary: "I was trying to get the peacefulness of it. Water's always interested me, and I have a lot of respect for mother nature ... and the enjoyment of it. The appeal of water and the freedom to go into areas where I control the outcome."