The Shelter Foundation's international photography exhibition "Picture It!" is open until the end of this month at the Bálint House in Budapest. Our photography project "Picture It!" - Our Streets, Our Stories - involved homeless people in the V4 countries this autumn. The project is supported by the International Visegrad Fund.
It's common for most of us to have our favourite place in cities: a favourite bench, the perfect view in a park. But how do those who literally call these places home see the city? - we asked the question this spring. The main aim of the "Picture It" project is to reduce prejudice and intolerance towards homeless people and people living in housing poverty.
An important guiding principle throughout the project was to enable other groups in society to gain direct and authentic experiences of homelessness from people who are homeless themselves. We wanted people who have experienced homelessness to show their less seen side, their vision, their art to members of mainstream society, thus reducing prejudice, helping social inclusion, and raising awareness.
During the project, 75 disposable cameras were distributed to 53 homeless people in the capitals of the Visegrad countries. The Shelter Foundation worked with 3 partner organisations: the Slovak Divadlo bez domova, the Czech Nadeje and the Polish Teatr Baza. The cameras submitted included around 3,000 usable images, from which an international jury of 11, led by photographer Gabriella Csoszó, selected 66 images for our album and 13 for our 2024 wall calendar, as well as the material for the exhibition. The publications are available free of charge in print and (soon) online at Shelter Foundation.
The exhibition of the selected pictures will be open until 28 November 2023 at Bálint House (1053 Budapest, Révai street 16.).
