Ihave been thinking about this project for a long time, many months. I had many concerns about doing it, questioning my motives. I didn't know if I felt comfortable showing up to people who can barely afford a cup of tea, with lots of expensive camera equipment, asking to take their photos free of charge. I had minor safety concerns about approaching people who may be desperate, on drugs, with expensive equipment at night time. I also wondered if I would be inviting trouble upon myself, whether it was in the form of violence, or whether it was from those people out their who look down on homeless people for their own reasons.
I've had people spitting on me, calling me junkie scum, kicking me, and pissing on me.
- Michelle (pictured above)
I've always been compassionate about people living on the street. In my teens I could quite easily have gone the same road. A good number of people I know, including close friends, went down a bad road and either ended up in jail, or dead. My own soft drug intake (cannabis) could have led to other things if I had travelled that path (I'm not a believer in gateway drugs but the circles you mix in and other factors can lead to heavier stuff). I was drinking an awful lot too, when I was at uni I was out drinking 4 or 5 nights per week. Where I was fortunate was that firstly my dad would just not have let me go down that road, even if he had to lock me in a room, and secondly I always had a part of me that would pull me back when I got close to the edge. Some people on the streets don't have the good fortunate of having parents at all, or indeed parents who care, and there's often mental health issues which are still stigmatised. It always bothered me, without knowing anything of the politics involved, that the police would seemingly harass homeless people instead of helping them.
So I eventually answered all my own questions and realised that what I wanted to do was just to document that these people exist and that they are alive and here. I don't want to get into discussions about what help might or might not be available, or that they chose to leave home instead of being kicked out, or that they're a junkie. I don't want to comment on how genuine some of them might or might not be. I don't want to talk about the merits of foreign people moving here to beg on the streets over native beggars. I simply want to say they are here, they are someone's son or daughter, and as long as they aren't harming people on the street, stealing or mugging people, then they deserve to be treated with some dignity.
My hope for the project is that it will further raise awareness of the issue (not that it needs to be highlighted; a walk down Sauchiehall Street will make anyone fully aware of the severity of the issue, which is DEFINITELY getting worse) and that maybe it will raise some compassion if people just remember that they are human. Maybe it will inspire someone to spend a pound on a cup of coffee and stop and chat to someone for a minute.
