Photos: copyright Mark Jensen
Common Ground to host soup dinner and discussion of photos of the homeless
The University of St. Thomas Campus Ministry will host an evening of photography, stories of homelessness, hot soup and bread from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 16, at the Common Ground house, 2154 Summit Ave.
All are welcome.
Mark E. Jensen, fine-art photographer and the visual resource coordinator at St. Thomas' Photo Services, has been making portraits of homeless individuals for more than three years.
He will display and talk about a dozen of his original portraits of people living on the streets in major cities.
Originally titled "Out my Window," because they were made from the window of his car, the portraits are of men and women holding handmade signs at busy intersections and freeway ramps.
Last spring, Jensen left the comfort of the automobile and began traveling on foot, continuing to make portraits of people living on the streets in various cities. Jensen presents the individuals within the context of their daily surroundings.
Jensen, with St. Thomas history professor Dr. Scott Wright, is teaching an Aquinas Scholars seminar, Photography in American History, this semester.
With homelessness … an age-old part of life … on the rise, many more people now are forced to live on the streets. "This population, as we all know, is growing," said Jensen. His goal is to aesthetically create portraits that are simultaneously serene, peaceful and exciting, while also disturbing and enlightening.
"With an injection of reality, perhaps some of society’s stereotypes may be dispelled along the way" he said.
