Traces and spaces of those living on the margins of Milwaukee

At a recent community meeting to discuss homelessness and panhandling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the moderator displayed a series of photographs of homeless people, some of whom are known to us through our work as researchers and advocates. In one picture a man is lying on a bench, apparently sleeping, with his back to the camera. Another showed someone who appears to be asking for money on the street. These kinds of objectifying representations of homelessness and urban poverty are commonplace in the setting in which we work.