ホームレスの“おっちゃん”たち

"Occhan", people who are homeless

Many people currently tend to dismiss issues of homelessness as self-inflicted problems. However, the circumstances that lead to homelessness are often unexpected and can happen to everyone, such as sudden illness, abrupt unemployment, poverty due to leaving work for family care, and deterioration of personal relationships. Homedoor, a certified NPO based in Kita-ku, Osaka City, that supports people who are homeless, began in 2017 to give film cameras to the people and have them take pictures of their daily lives. Then Homedoor sold some of the snaps as stock photos to get more people interested in issues of homelessness through the photographs. In April 2022, Homedoor published the shots as a photo book. They display the photos selected from the book this time. The title "I'm" means each homeless person is an individual and has his/her/their own life, although they are sometimes lumped together as "the homeless."