My boyfriend, Karson and I took the train down to Toronto last Sunday. As we were walking the streets of Yonge and Dundas Square, we came across Mary Ellen. She was in a wheelchair, on the corner of the street. 90% of the people walking by ignored what she had to say. When I approached her, she gladly agreed to participate in the project I’m working on. She stated that homelessness is such a big problem that nobody in the city acknowledges. Instead of sharing her own story, she shared her story of her dear friend that passed. Mary Ellen was incredibly selfless by using this opportunity to speak on her friends story, rather than her own. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t make out the name of her friend.) With tears in Mary’s eyes, she told us her friend was homeless and passed away from freezing outside in the cold, winter weather. As Mary Ellen stated, her friend would do anything to help others and would give you the last ten dollars she had, if it means she was helping someone else.
From briefly speaking with Mary Ellen, I can tell you she is selfless, brave, and a strong woman. When giving her a hug, I could tell that this is something that is rarely offered to those suffering on the streets. Compassion. It hurt me to see that she was crying and yet the traffic of people walking by acted as if she was invisible and didn’t matter.
With my photographs, I hope you see the human behind the photo. They are real people and they deserve compassion, support, and kindness. Just because they weren’t given the same opportunities or luck that the rest of us had doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings or deserve the basic needs to survive.
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