What is it like to have no home to go to in Portland, Oregon?  For those of us with locking doors and warm beds, it is important to never forget that well over 4,000 individuals in our very own community sleep outside each night.  What can we do?

PhotoVoice can help us know what to do!

The PhotoVoice Curriculum

Now Available - click here! For ages K-12, the curriculum is designed to accompany the PhotoVoice exhibit, transforming it into a powerful teaching tool, including:

What is the PhotoVoice Project?

The PhotoVoice project provided our customers, people with experience with homelessness and poverty in Portland, Oregon, with cameras to photograph their day-to-day existence, including their search for shelter, food, health care and community.  These photos formed the basis for “Look Here! Views From the Invisible Community,” an emotionally powerful and educational multi-media exhibit.  Selections of these photographs will also be used in the Sisters’ book, Voices from the Street.

Where can I see it?

The “Look Here!” exhibit is available to come to your community group as part of an exciting traveling exhibition. It includes six-foot-tall free-standing photo panels featuring the work of nine photographers, several smaller easel panels on themes like “Sleep and Rest” and “Pets,” and MP3 players with interviews with the photographers about the pictures they took.

You can also see the PhotoVoice exhibit at the following locations (click here). Check back for more dates as they are added.  Contact Mary to learn more, or by calling (503) 222-5694 ext. 17.

You may also contact Mary to bring Look Here! to your group using the contact info above, or by clicking here and filling out and returning this form.  Sisters asks for a small (sliding scale) donation to off-set the cost of bringing the exhibit to your group for those who can afford it.

Take a look

To view pictures of the six-foot panels, click here. To view the easel panels on themes, click here.

Click here to view Cold, Cold Ground:  PowerPoint slideshow of the Look Here! exhibit. When you get to the first page, click any key to begin.  A gentle warning:  this file is large (8.1 MB), and takes a while to load.  To quit viewing, press Escape at any time.

Please note that the art is copyrighted by the photographers and the designers. Sisters thanks Owen Jones and Partners LLC, Portland Vital Signs, JDA Creative Color, and Stephen Voss Photography for their work on this exhibit!

Take PhotoVoice home

You can buy beautiful, professionally printed postcards featuring 8 of these black and white photos, by: 

• clicking here to buy them securely on-line
• calling Catharine at (503) 222-5694 ext. 12 or
• mailing in this Sisters’ store printable form to 133 N.W. Sixth Ave., Portland, OR, 97209
• coming by our office at 618 NW Davis, M-F from 9 to 5
• or by going to St. Johns Bookseller at 8622 N. Lombard: Sunday, Tuesday, & Wednesday 10-6pm; Thursday, Friday, & Saturday 10 to 8pm .

PhotoVoice participants Alan Shipley and Laura Brown visit with Mayor Tom Potter and his wife Karin Hansen at the Look Here! premiere, May 2005.  Around 400 people crossed class lines and learned about each others’ lives at this enlightening and powerful exhibit.  Thank-you to the photographers, supporters, volunteers, and all the attendees for making the day a great success.

PhotoVoice participant Doug Chandler visits with Mayor Tom Potter and his wife Karin Hansen at the Look Here! premiere.

Photo by PhotoVoice participant Brynn Athens

Photo by PhotoVoice participant Jeremy Johnson

Photo by PhotoVoice participant Dan Newth

Photo by PhotoVoice participant Jeremy Johnson