Drawn to the exposure of the human condition, photographing has become my approach to processing and understanding ideas we have about America and our “social gallery.” A limiting factor in the social gallery is its hastiness to exclude members who are already systemically marginalized and oppressed. These photographs recognize and include those privy to pre-conceived stereotypes by documenting my dear friend, Roberta. If you were to ask Roberta their gender, they would say that they are still figuring it out. And if you were to ask them where they live, they would say, the woods of South 17 for now, but would also suggest that home is the city of Savannah itself. The local coffee shop, the health food store, Forsyth Park and the Unitarian Universalist Church all make up their sense of home.
Drawn to the exposure of the human condition, photographing has become my approach to processing and understanding ideas we have about America and our “social gallery.†A limiting factor in the social gallery is its hastiness to exclude members who are already systemically marginalized and oppressed. These photographs recognize and include those privy to pre-conceived stereotypes by documenting my dear friend, Roberta. If you were to ask Roberta their gender, they would say that they are still figuring it out. And if you were to ask them where they live, they would say, the woods of South 17 for now, but would also suggest that home is the city of Savannah itself. The local coffee shop, the health food store, Forsyth Park and the Unitarian Universalist Church all make up their sense of home.
This is Roberta Hopkins, in their own words.
I'm homeless in Savannah, Georgia, USA. I live in the woods a half-hour bike-ride outside of town, I put up a tent when it rains. In the summer the mosquitoes own any square inch of skin left exposed. In the winter, well, damned if I want to get out of the sleeping bag in the morning because it can get real cold here.
I'm 62 years old, unemployed (and I've been underemployed all my life). My religion I might variously describe as Libertarian Humanist or Unitarian Universalist depending on my mood and my politics I might describe also as Libertarian Humanist. Savannah is a lovely city and I never ask myself "what the heck am I doing in Savannah," but I do sometimes wonder what the heck am I doing in the deep South.
I'm writing this in the Sentient Bean just south of the park; it's my favorite coffee house. There's a health food store right next door. That's where I buy herbs. The entire store as far as I'm concerned, exists only to support the bulk herbs in the back. Boo pharmaceuticals, boo pills, boo Western medicine, yay herbs! The Bean here has a horrendously uneven concrete floor and most of the tables sport folded-up somethings under a leg or two. At the moment there's an event in half the space, curtained off. It's an open mic night featuring dreadful rap music. Oh, well. Rap music (or do they call it hippity-hop?) at least serves to prove the English language and poetry are not dead. Just suffering. Personally, I'd rather listen to opera.
Also at The Bean we have, at least once a week, a movie guy presenting Very Strange Movies. Some so bad they're funny as hell, some so obscure they're fascinating. Personally, I like foreign movies. Currently I'm struggling through La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In) by Pedro Almodóvar. Struggling because I'm watching it mostly without subtitles and my Spanish is a bit weak.