You can’t ignore Seattle’s homeless this weekend

Lee Jeffries isn’t from Seattle. Or Los Angeles. In fact, he’s from half a world away. Yet when this photographer walks into a homeless camp in America, he earns a trust that is hard to come by.

“I met Lee about nine months ago,” said Mike Cook, a volunteer with the Union Gospel Mission.

“Not just anybody can go into a homeless encampment, put a camera in a homeless person’s face, and gain respect from a homeless person,” he said. “That’s not something I recommend for anybody to do. To gain the trust of a homeless person is very hard.”

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The intimate and intense portraits that Jeffries takes have gained attention across the globe, especially in a city like Seattle that is battling a homelessness crisis. This weekend, Nov. 3-4, his work will be gaining even more attention. Jeffries’ photos will be projected onto a walls, buildings and landmarks around Seattle as part of a public art project “Lost Angeles.”

“There are people out there who just want to be heard and want to be seen,” Cook said. “That’s why this exhibit is really great because now you are going to put us on a skyscraper where you can no longer ignore us. We will be seen. We will be heard. Because you have to see us. You have no choice.”

Portraits of the homeless

Jeffries’ portraits are the product of years spending time, living with homeless people. He is a full-time accountant back home in the United Kingdom. When he takes vacations, he goes to homeless communities with his camera.

“I immerse myself in the homeless community, effectively being part of that community, accepted by the community,” Lee said. “… the portraits themselves are deeply personal statement of the relationship I’ve built with the homeless person over the course of a day, a week, three weeks. These are people I spend time with, sometimes weeks with.”

Cook knows first hand how difficult is is for someone like Jeffries to get these photographs. But not from his work at the mission, where he often takes a van around Seattle to feed and help the city’s homeless community.

“I was an addict for over 30 years,” he said.

He lived on the street for quite a while, until he hit a breaking point.

“I had an attempt made on my life,” Cook said. “I was served some bad dope and ended up being resuscitated twice in July 2015. I was eating off the backs of Union Gospel Mission vans … that’s how I came into contact with Union Gospel Mission. I went through their one-year recovery program, then I did a one-year internship. Now I’m working, trying to save up to get a place of my own.”

Cook will be among the many portraits projected onto Seattle buildings and landmarks this weekend. Find more information about the art display here.

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