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The Invisible 不可见者(中文描述尚未完成)

This project, titled The Invisible, focuses on the homeless population in London. There are over 300,000 homeless individuals in the UK—half of them living in London. For this project, I spent more than three months meeting with over 30 people experiencing homelessness. I sat with each of them for hours on the streets, interviewing them and documenting their lives. I shared meals with them and, at times, even slept rough alongside them. While this is a project about homelessness, at its core, it reflects on the city of London and the people it has abandoned.
Homelessness is a common sight in London, but that should never be an excuse to ignore it—especially in a city so full of uncertainty. Brexit has made life more precarious for the younger generation living here, and austerity-driven cuts to public funding have made survival even harder for marginalized communities. This project aims to listen to their voices, document their experiences, and give them the space to tell their own stories. I hope the work might spark change, though I have my doubts about whether photography alone can transform anyone’s circumstances. As I delved deeper into the project, I realized I could neither determine the cause of someone’s homelessness nor claim to know what might lift them out of it. Like you and me, they are complex individuals.
I’ve come to see that the lives of people experiencing homelessness mirror our own in many ways. In another light, they might even be seen as those who have escaped the traps of modern society. They are refugees of this city—and in a way, truly free, though that freedom comes at a steep cost.

Note: For privacy reasons, the written descriptions do not correspond to the individuals in the photos.

这个项目名为不可见者(The Invisible),聚焦伦敦的无家可归者群体。英国有超过30万无家可归者,其中一半居住在伦敦。为了这个项目,我花了三个多月的时间,与30多位无家可归者见面。我和他们每人坐在街上,一坐就是几个小时,采访他们,记录他们的生活。我与他们一起吃饭,有时甚至露宿街头。 虽然这个项目的主题是无家可归的人,但其核心是反思伦敦这座城市以及那些被它抛弃的灵魂。

无家可归者在伦敦屡见不鲜,但这绝不能成为忽视它的借口——尤其是在这样一个充满不确定性的城市。英国脱欧让居住在伦敦的年轻一代的生活更加岌岌可危,而紧缩政策导致的公共资金削减也让边缘群体的生存更加艰难。这个项目旨在倾听他们的声音,记录他们的经历,并给予他们讲述自身故事的空间。我希望这件作品能够带来改变,尽管我怀疑单凭摄影能否改变任何人的处境。 随着我对这个项目的深入研究,我意识到我既无法确定一个人无家可归的原因,也无法声称知道如何帮助他们摆脱困境。就像你我一样,他们也是复杂的个体。 我逐渐意识到,无家可归者的生活在很多方面都与我们的生活如出一辙。从另一个角度来看,他们甚至可以被视为逃离现代社会陷阱的人。他们是这座城市的难民——在某种程度上,他们拥有真正的自由,尽管这种自由的代价高昂。

 

备注:出于隐私考量,文字描述与图片上的人物并不对应。

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Simon, 39

Simon is a 39-year-old man, and also a former police officer. He had an unimaginable life. I do not know if I am allowed to share this with my reader or not but in sum, he fell in love with a woman who later changed his life. He decided to become homeless since they spared out.

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Rui, 54

Rui is 54 years old, and a father from Portugal. He has been homeless for seven months now. I met him on a rainy day next to Holborn station. He was an IT expert and a part-time photographer.

 

‘Seven or six months ago, if you had asked me if I would be here [on the street], I would have laughed out loud.’

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Demyss, 22

This is Demyss, a 22-year-old man from Romania. I met him on a sunny afternoon on Oxford Street. During the two hours I spent with him, he only received fifty pence. He told me that he had a baby back in his country and that he was trying to raise the money to fly back home.-year-old man from Romania. I met him on a sunny afternoon on Oxford Street. During the two hours I spent with him, he only received fifty pence. He told me that he had a baby back in his country and that he was trying to raise the money to fly back home.

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Pebbles, 37

Pebbles, a 37 veteran of the British army who used to be in Afghanistan for six months.

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Education

“My educational background? I got a first honours degree in IT networking in 2010 at Kingston University.”

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Money and Job

Q: How much money have you got so far today?

 

A: “Four pounds fifty.” (Saturday night at 3 a.m.) 

“I worked for Royal Mail for 13 years and now I lost my job. But, I’m still trying to be positive because homeless does not mean hopeless.”

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Welfare

“They said they can’t give me emergency accommodation because I’m not under the age of 18, I haven’t got mental health issues, I’m not pregnant, and I haven’t got children with me. But, see, I got a bottle on my head on that Saturday night.”

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Scot, 46

Scot is 46 and used to work as a ground worker. He is the father of a 26-year-old man and a nine-year-old girl, and he has been homeless for a year and nine months. In the interview, he said, ‘I know I got myself into this position, so I’m going to get myself out of this position. I don’t really need what they call “help”; but I want other people to have the knowledge that I’m not crazy.’; Another man in the middle is an anonymous man from Liverpool. He is 54 years old and a former baker, and it was his second week of being homeless when I pressed the shutter for this photograph. ‘I used to walk past people like us weeks ago’; he said.

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Steven, 47

This is Steven, a 47-year-old father of two girls (8 and 13) from Kent. He has been homeless for five months now. He was begging in Elephant and Castle, later being asked to leave by the police officer, and the young man in the middle was arguing with the police officer on his behalf.

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Lulu, 25

Lulu is a 25-year-old girl from London with no educational background. She has been homeless for 5 months since her mum moved outside of London.

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John, 49

This is John, a 49-year-old homeless man from France, who has been on the street for four months now. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and worked for the Royal Mail for nearly 13 years. In the interview, he said to me that he still believes homeless does not mean hopeless.

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PTSD

“From the PTSD… I’ve always chosen not to answer the question because I’m living with that effect in my mind every day. I am still on a list waiting for treatment.”

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Family

“When you come from your family, you make sure you make the best of anything given, you know. I didn’t have that privilege. Do you understand that? You really have a very good mother and father. I never had these, you know. My mother (61) was umm… a drug user. Never nothing good happen to me.”

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Experience

Q: What’s the worst experience you’ve had on the street?

 

A: “A man said to me, he said he will help me out, so I followed him. When I got there, another man was waiting and I got raped for 36 hours. I was 15.”

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It is my sincere wish that these people will find their home.

 

Peter, 

47 years old, being homeless for 7 years.


Neillet (Peter’s wife), 

31 years old, left high school at the age of 17 and became homeless since then.


(Name unknown), 

31 years old, a father of a 2-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy from Romania.

Chris,

 30 years old, being homeless for 2 years. A formal chef. 


Simon, 

39 years old, a former police officer, and also a heating engineer. 

Yankee(nickname), 

around 35, used to living in New York City.


(Name unknown),

 A 54-year-old man from Liverpool. Recently became homeless two weeks ago. 


Scot, 

46 years old. Being homeless for 9 months.
A father of a boy and a baby girl. He’s a well-skilled ground worker.

Daren, 

46 years old. Being homeless for 4 months.

Sharon, 

28 years old. Being homeless for 6 months. She was graduated from Nescot College.


Dee, 

32 years old. Being homeless for a year. The son of an immigration officer and a father of 3 children.


Joe Rea,

 34 years old. Being homeless for 10 weeks.

George, 

21. Homeless for 2 years and a half.

 

John, 

49 years old (about to be 50).  Being homeless for 4 months since Christmas. A father of 3 children.


John, 

33 years old.  Being homeless for 7 months.
A father of 2 kids (7 years old girl and 2 years old boy).

Tom, 

24 years old. He was homeless for 6 years since he left care when he was 18.

 

Gary, 

43 years old. A father of 5 children. He got tattoos for his children’s names on his body.


Lupu Ionut Constantin, 

28 years old man from Bulgaria. Being homeless for 8 months.


Steven, 

a father of 2 little girls. 47 years old.

 

Rui Leitao, 

A 54-year-old man from Portugal. Being homeless for 7 months.
He needs a job in IT, and this is his email: leitaoruimfp@gmail.com


Robyn, 

a 26-year-old lady who had been homeless for 3 months. She’s from South Africa.


Lulu,

25. Being homeless for 5 months.


Pebbles,
A 37-year-old veteran severed his duty in Afghanistan for 6 months, currently suffering from PTSD. This is his email, and he asked me to spare it around to raise help: pebbles_2000uk@yahoo.co.uk

 

Mario, 

28 years old man from Lithuania. Being homeless for 3 months.

 

 Also, Jim and Lisa,

and many other homeless people in this country.

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