On Nov. 7, WUOT will begin an 8-week series that focuses on the hopes, dreams and challenges of the homeless: The People on “The Other Side of the Street.” The series will air every Wednesday in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
We’ll also unveil a new Web page: Each time a series segment airs it will be posted on our site. You’ll also be able to see some of the images related to this project. For more information about the series, contact News Director Matt Shafer Powell.
A word about the project from WUOT's News Director Matt Shafer Powell:
In late 2006, David Habercom approached me with an offer I simply couldn’t refuse.
David is one of this area’s premier portrait photographers. In recent years, he’s established a reputation as a prolific photographer of homeless people. These aren’t snapshots taken from across the street; they’re high-quality studio portraits, intimate and human. They’re really quite amazing.
David wanted to talk to me about a revolutionary idea. He wanted to create a gallery exhibit where people could see his portraits of the homeless and hear the voices of the people he’d photographed. We’d hear about their struggles, their fears and their dreams. David wanted me to conduct, record and edit the audio interviews.
Once he described his vision for the project, I couldn’t say “yes” quickly enough.
Together with local video producer Bob Deck, we fashioned a temporary recording room in the supply closet of David’s Gay Street photography studio. On our recording days, David goes across the street to the Volunteer Ministry Center and recruits subjects (he pays them for their time). Then they come to the studio, sit for a portrait and I interview them.
Since we began, we’ve interviewed more than two dozen people.
“The Other Side of the Street” is a compilation of some of these interviews. These short audio memoirs are genuine, personal and powerful. Most importantly, they give us the opportunity to see homelessness from a different angle. It’s not simply a nebulous social issue; it’s life on the fringes of society, played out each day by real people.
We hope these voices find a place in your understanding of life on the other side of the street.
Sincerely,
Matt Shafer Powell
News Director
WUOT 91.9 FM
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