HoPe
HOmeless PEople
Photographic project of the PHOS association from the environment of Night-shelter of St. Vincent de Paul and Shelter of St. Louise de Marillac. Places that bring light to lives of people who, through their own recklessness or through influence or impact of various living situations, ended up on the periphery of society. But what will someone who comes as an impartial observer feel? Knowing that these people are homeless and bear a huge burden of mental decline and psychic traumatic experiences on the inside?
Trough photographs the authors enter the realm of relationships, in space they are searching for details that define the characters. The photographs are not just an indication but a decisive interpretation of the feeling or condition of a specific person. The individual approach of photographers to portrayal of this theme serves as evidence of how diversely can these issues be captured visually.
Michal Fulier captured the unsettled life of people in nightshelter who themselves become a part of their own aid. As a photographer he found himself on the frontier between two worlds, the one on the street and another in nightshelter where a man marked by his destiny behaves differently than in normal life. Through his photographs he expressed what characterizes these people.
Laco Maďar approached a man in the nightshelter as an isolated individuality. Through that he demarcated the personal space of the photographed and consciously eliminated the for him disturbing surroundings. His photographs display the apathy of homeless people, the inner state of an individual which is showing on the outside. Photography as a deliberately crooked mirror of a persons soul.
Andrej Lojan captured the preparation and course of a drama based on motives of the destinies of 5 homeless people from the shelter. They, together with the professional actors, perfomed their stories in the inscenation named Confession in the theather Malá Scéna in Bratislava. Author sensitively portrayed conflicts of their inner worlds. Authentic emotions of the life behind scene, in the shelter and in the actor´s role as well.
Matúš Zajac entered the current state of the existentially lost people in the shelter. He acted as a photographer, a non-photographer psychologist, a sociologist. His photographs are telling a story. Through psychological analysis of the characters and situations, he got into their very intimate space. A symbol is there a clear sign of the author´s intent in the structures of a full aesthetic picture.
Project HOPE arose thanks to the cooperation and support of Slovenské elektrárne, member of ENEL group, who supports the services of Nightshelter of St. Vincent de Paul.
