Manchester through the eyes of rough sleepers

Ten homeless people were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph the city.

Stories of the Streets project
Published 16th Jul 2018

Sleeping in a tent, a dog at the side of the road and some of Manchester's most well known landmarks - these are all subjects in some of the photos on display in the 'Stories of the Streets' project.

Ten homeless people have spent a month photographing the city from their perspective.

They were each given a disposable camera by the charity group People of the Streets.

The group then collected the cameras from three local charities: Lifeshare, Barnabus and the Big Issue North.

Colin spent the day taking photos of some of the graffiti art around the city centre:

"I've got two passions. First, my music, then my graffiti. It manages to relax me, and that's the side people don't see.

"I got the camera and then spent the day walking around the city taking pictures.

"See, a lot of people see graffiti as vandalism, and I wanted to show them it wasn't vandalism.

"With my epilepsy being stress related, where do you go to get help? You have to find your own way of destressing, and that's what graffiti does for me.

"Someone came up to me and said all five of my photos had sold, and I was just like 'oh, wow'. Someone who works here is on about getting one of my pictures blown up and put on the wall and that just makes it even better.

"It's just stuff that I found close to my heart. I wanted to get people seeing graffiti, rather than just thinking it's just vandalism and nothing comes of it. People just enjoying it makes me feel good."

The photos have gone on display in the Arndale Centre. Money raised from the sale of the pictures goes towards helping the charities involved, and directly to the photographers to help them get back on their feet.

People of the Streets images

Alex Greenhalgh, from People of the Streets, said:

"I feel like I know the city very intimately, but I've been surprised to see it from angles I'd not seen it before.

"I hope people realise that everyone has value, the only thing that makes them different is their housing situation.

"We have all different stories from all different people, we have ex-models, people who talk about how it means to be gay and homeless in Manchester and we've even got someone who was educated in Portugal and came over and is now homeless. I think their stories are as important as the pictures."

The photos will stay on display until July 22nd.

For more information, visit: https://peopleofthestreets.co.uk/pages/stories-of-the-streets