Inspired by Mary Ellen Mark, my concentration, titled Nevermind, explores the lost & recovered identities of the homeless in San Francisco. My sequence begins by revealing the invisibility of the homeless by juxtaposing passersby navigating streets, oblivious to homeless people lying below them. At the end of my sequence I subvert their invisibility by showing their humanity through diptych portraits wherein the viewer is forced to come face to face with those they have ignored.

In Nevermind, my sequence shifts from an outsider perspective to a personal, confrontational view of the homeless. In photo 1 for example, we see a bystander sitting and a homeless woman lying on a bench back-to-back. Although they are inches from each other, there is a visible boundary between them. The bystander completely ignores the human nearest to him. In the beginning of my sequence, the homeless are presented as overlooked, laying on the ground or in the shadows, with their identities obscured. This portion recognizes injustice and highlights the fact that people in our own society literally and metaphorically live “in the shadows.” The final images (photos 7-12) move to a diptych format which combines both medium and close-up frontal shots of individual homeless subjects, enlarging their  humanity and dignity. By getting up close and personal, the viewer is forced to confront injustice and see these homeless individuals as the people they truly are. In photo 7, for example, the homeless woman’s eyes meet ours and we are invited to connect with her. Similarly, in the final photo of my sequence, a tight close up of a homeless man functions to challenge society's attitude of “nevermind.” In being that close, the viewer has to wake up to the issues and confront the reality of disparity in our society.