September 22, 2004

America's unseen
Six women from Gainesville shelters take pictures of their lives

A look of pain crosses Lenora Stewart's face. The memory is deep.

"I cannot describe to you how black and bleak depression is," the once-homeless Gainesville resident says. "Just being alive was a chore."

Accolades of success had once filled Stewart's resume. She had worked as a financial writer for Standard & Poor's in New York, acted as an investigator in pro-environment lawsuits, including the Exxon Valdez oil-spill case, and even marched for civil rights in Selma, Ala., in 1965.

Then, the 59-year-old's lifelong up-and-down battle with depression worsened.

"A person cannot imagine the pain and the hell," she says. "I couldn't come out of it."

Undiagnosed and to the point of being unable to even brush her teeth and bathe, Stewart sought treatment in 1996.

The process of achieving mental health, which included being placed on a variety of medicines, however, left her unable to work, and, eventually, without a home.

During this time, Stewart was chosen to participate in Gainesville's Unseen America, a photojournalism project designed to educate the community about homeless women and families. Over this past summer, six women from Gainesville shelters partook in an eight-week photography course, were given cameras and film, and told to take pictures of their lives.

"Unseen America works with people who are not recognized in the mainstream media," said Liz Gottlieb, the coordinator for the program. "With it, we can try and get to know these people in a real way."

The project stems from a national Unseen America program started by Bread and Roses, a not-for-profit organization formed in 1979 as the cultural arm of New York City's Health and Human Services Union local 1199. The group's mission centers on bringing cultural resources to people who have little access to the arts, according to its Web site.

Gottlieb first heard of Unseen America during her time as a social worker in New York. When she moved to Florida about three years ago, she carried its goal with her.

Now, the Gainesville exhibit, being displayed at the Reitz Union this month and the Hippodrome State Theatre starting in mid-October, features about 30 black-and-white photographs , including ones of children, nature and structures.

"They all have a little piece of me in them," said Sherisa Berry, a 33-year-old participant who became homeless after her husband lost his job. "Each one shows a different aspect of my life."

One of the first pictures Berry took, a photograph of ferns, became her favorite. She smiled as she noted the composition and the lighting.

"It shows God's nature, and it's just absolutely gorgeous," she said.

The exhibit also showcases captions and biographies written by the participants, further explaining their everyday joys and struggles.

"The thoughts with the images are so important, so moving," said Gottlieb, who is also a photography graduate student at the University of Florida. "All together, it becomes an image you can't forget."

Stewart, who wrote columns for magazines and a series of self-help books earlier in her life, greatly enjoyed this part of the assignment.

"Anytime that I put words on paper, it has a lot to do with me," she said. "It's like part of my soul."

The women, whose ages range from early 20s to late 50s, include students, full-time employees, mothers, grandmothers and wives. Likewise, their reasons for homelessness vary. One woman ran from a more than 40 year abusive relationship. Another, consumed with full-time work and a family, all while trying to complete a degree, ended up without a home.

The six were chosen to participate in the program after Gottlieb contacted many of the Gainesville shelters.

"I was very interested in doing the project," said Berry, a homemaker with three children. "I wanted to show that there are more than just homeless men out there, that there are also women and families, and that we are all different."

Unseen America was sponsored by community businesses and organizations, which furnished the supplies and money. Gottlieb taught the photography class with David Zentz, a photography graduate student at UF.

As the course went on, Gottlieb noticed a change in the women. They started to become more excited and open with their lives and pictures.

Berry and her family now live in a home sponsored by the Interfaith Hospitality Network, and for the first time, she is considering a job in photography.

As for Stewart, she was homeless for 10 months and 10 days, but now has found shelter thanks to the homes sponsored by St. Francis House.

She has almost completed her mystery novel, titled "The Devil's Dollar," a story she enigmatically says "has never been told." Stewart also advocates compassion toward the homeless and treatment for the depressed.

"Look around you and actually see people," she said. "The person who cleans your room when you're in a motel room is a real human being with real emotions, real feelings, real families and real struggles.

"You know, we're all in this together," she added. "Have compassion for those chronically homeless."