Art Start: The Family Portrait Project
Art Start is an award-winning, nationally recognized model for using the creative process to save lives and transform communities. I was honored to have the chance to participate in this incredible project produced by Art Start and Natalie Brasington - and it was amazing to shoot with fellow photographers (thus far) Natalie Brasignton, David Johnson, Andrew Eccles, Jim Wright, Peter Yang, David Lang, Ty Cole, Zachary Stertz, Heidi Gutman, and Bryan Shih.
About the Family Portrait Project:
Homelessness in New York City is currently at record highs since the Great Depression. Many families in shelters feel shame and a sense of failure for their immediate circumstances. Similarly, New Yorkers are often unaware of the most common causes of homelessness, as well as the many success stories behind families living in the shelter system. Art Start’s Family Portrait Project uses portraits to shift the focus on homeless families by celebrating their resiliency and unity through difficult times. Through portraiture, creative workshops, and editorial writing, Art Start seeks to inspire compassion and respect for the human spirit, both within families undergoing povertyrelated hardship as well as within New York City’s greater community, grappling with record rates of homelessness.
Approximately fifty families will participate in this project, consisting of; nuclear families, single mother families, single father families, teenage mothers, expecting teenage mothers, ad foster families. These families have submitted their portraits and stories to the Family Portrait Project gallery exhibition to take place in a Manhattan fine arts gallery in 2013. They will also be invited to help curate the exhibition of their photos and later, be honored at an exhibition opening.
Art Start: The Family Portrait Project