"We think sometimes that poverty is being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty."
--Mother Theresa
After many years of documenting life on the streets of Houston, photographer Ben Tecumseh DeSoto tells the stories of the homeless and working poor, the “broke and the broken,” with his exhibit Understanding Poverty, curated by Clint Willour, and words by Ann Walton Sieber.
The Understanding Poverty is an ongoing collaboration of DeSoto with writer/editor Ann Walton Sieber in the role of Project Editor. Sieber’s contributions include field reporting, writing and conception of not only the exhibition text, but also the developing book and documentary film with DeSoto as first camera. DeSoto's work on poverty and homelessness dates back to 1980. From 1981 to 2006 he was a staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle, working as "a journalist, an artist and humanist."
Two of the main subjects of this exhibition are Ben White and Judy Pruitt, whom DeSoto encountered in 1988 while on assignment for the newspaper.
White is in prison, where he feels safer that on the street because that is the only place where he can get any assistance from the government as a convicted felon. For him, it is easier to live in prison and be cared for than having to fend for himself on the streets.
The Houston Chronicle has published stories on both White and Pruitt, but DeSoto's ongoing relationship with each of them gave him an opportunity to document their lives over a long period of time.
His photographs show Ben and Judy on and off the streets, prison, court system, and halfway houses.
Judy Pruitt started as a prostitute, working the streets
She had more than one child and here she is pictured siting in the courthouse, waiting for a hearing during which they take away her parental rights to one of her children
Judy, also known as Snow eventually became a pastor, ministering to prison populations while struggling with liver cancer. She came up to me at the exhibition opening and shared her story of naïveté, helplessness, hope, faith, and starting anew. She was taken advantage of many times and continues to suffer and fall victim due to lack of education and lower than average intelligence. She is street smart, hard working, but too trusting for this world. Today, she is back on the street, doing any kind of work she can find. Despite her many failures, she is a fighter, who remains full of hope and will never give up on living.
“The streets of Houston have been a regular “beat” I worked with my camera,” says DeSoto, “and I want others to see what I’ve seen, and understand what I’ve come to understand, the role of the trauma in magnifying the drama of poverty.”
With this exhibition DeSoto explains the causes of homelessness:
"To really understand poverty, (people need) an understanding of the role of post-traumatic stress disorder — the trauma of living with an overwhelming and out-of-your-control experience," he said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
According to DeSoto, homelessness is "not the problem in itself but a symptom of the problem. The photographs ... I hope, bring that information together."
Meal Ticket
The Understanding Poverty project has become a joint effort between DiverseWorks, the Houston Endowment, Que Imaging, and other collaborators, including the photography subjects. It is supported by the efforts of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to End Chronic Homelessness, and the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, among others.
(c) Pictures by Vika!
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