By David F. Rooney
If you have ever wondered where “those people” go after dark, then Melissa Jameson’s INVISIBLE: Narratives on Homelessness in Revelstoke, a photovoice exhibition featuring photography by local homeless people and those at risk of being homeless is definitely worth a look.
On display upstairs at Castle Joe Books until May 30, INVISIBLE is a homely, vaguely disturbing and honest exhibition of the places that people wind up sleeping at nightt.
Jameson’s background as a journalist shows in the stark simplicity of the images. She’s not a journalist anymore, but you can’t dislodge years of habit and, in any event, she’s not the kind of person who would try to prettify or tart up the subject matter. As Community Connections’ housing outreach worker Jameson wants the story of homeless told directly and honestly. She manages to do that through the images, as well as a booklet she is producing on homelessness in Revelstoke.
One thing that strikes everyone who sees the show is the way the images are displayed. I think her willingness to underline their impermanence by showing them on cardboard backings hung from the ceiling by cheap hemp twine is quite appropriate. The exhibition is part of her thesis project.
Castle Joe Books is open Tuesday-Sunday. The exhibition runs until May 30. In the meantime, here are three images from the show’s opening on Thursday evening:
