These are the faces of those that go unseen, even when they are right in front of us. It’s not a comfortable subject for most people, because those unseen masses leave them with mixed feelings. We want to believe that they quit all by themselves, but we will never now their stories unless we hear them from their mouths. And yet so many people don’t want to do that because it means that they have to stop what they’re doing.
A group of French street artists didn’t want to ignore them, so they painted tributes to those nameless people in the Muse Urbain (City Museum, where these men live) who aren’t acknowledged by society unless it with disdain or disgust. Artisme painted their faces on the walls of the streets where they live, exposed to the elements. Just as nature deteriorates our outer structures, so too will these homages be affected by the time and weather. These artists didn’t want us to turn our heads. They wanted us to see every hard line that tells a story about that person’s life. They’ve even written something underneath each portrait, but they wrote so minutely that the observer is forced to come in close to read the words. By coming close, they are then forced to see every line, every texture, every expression up close and personal. Something most people wouldn’t do for a real homeless person.
Life is tough, but people have a fragility about them that is hidden under layers. No one can claim that this isn’t true, because if they are, then they’re just denying it. But within us all is that voice that tells us to reach out when someone calls for help. These men’s calls are silent, but they are now being heard. This is a way for them to be acknowledged as a part of us all. They are connected to someone somewhere. They have family. But we are all part of a bigger family called humanity. This is not what we should be doing to a member of our family.
– Thanks for the reminder, My Modern Met
My thoughts: Talking To the Homeless
