For Immediate Release
Contact: Daniel Wackershauser, Marketing Specialist
Phone: 608.822.2303
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: January 24, 2022
Stories of homelessness on display at Southwest Tech
Fennimore -
“The Road I Call Home” exhibit is on display during normal business hours through March 13.
According to U.S. Census data, an estimated 3.5 million people experience homelessness annually. Randy Bacon, a photographer from Springfield, Missouri, has captured a few of those faces and is telling their stories. He was on the Southwest Wisconsin Technical College campus in Fennimore, Wisconsin on Jan. 19 to talk about the friends he has made over the years and how this project, “The Road I Call Home,” has impacted his life.
Randy Bacon stands in front of his exhibit at Southwest Tech.
The Southwest Tech Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work group identified “The Road I Call Home” as its featured exhibit for this year. Southwest Tech Student Life is also sponsoring the event. “At the college, we have worked really hard in the past year and a half to bring different voices and perspectives to the table,” said Chantel Hampton, DEI coordinator and social science instructor at Southwest Tech. “Randy’s presentation was one more opportunity to bring a voice to a group that rarely has one. He reminded us that we all have a story. We all have had experiences that could have turned out differently if we had made different choices or if other events had also taken place.”
“Randy reminds us that life is messy and it is all about how we respond to the messy,” said Hampton. “When hearing the stories of cancer survivors or those who are homeless, he is reminded of what is good and beautiful in the world because these folks choose to not dwell on the difficulty of their circumstances.”
“For me, personally, I had a negative bent toward the homeless for many years,” said Bacon. “I wasn’t mean or anything, but I never went out of my way to welcome or help.”
A visitor checks out the exhibit.
Bacon’s studio and gallery is in downtown Springfield, which includes a significant homeless population. They would come into the business regularly. “At first, I would ask them to leave because I thought they were disrupting business,” he said. “Something didn’t feel right about that. That’s not what I’m about. I’m a people lover. I can’t do this just because they are homeless.”
Bacon explained that he began talking to them and instead of immediately jumping into negative thoughts, he dug in and realized he was talking to a really interesting person each time. “I have many friends now who don’t have four walls,” he said. “They are homeless.”
In the beginning, Bacon took photos and recorded their stories, “not to exploit, but to show their beauty.” He then partnered with a nonprofit organization in southwest Missouri. They thought they we would do 5-6 profiles and move on. It has now grown to more than 200. “Everyone on the first day told their friends on the streets and those friends came in to be photographed and they wanted their stories told,” said Bacon. “The overarching thing I learned, was that even in the midst of some pretty extreme challenges one of the things that kept coming up is that, ‘I really want to do this with the idea that maybe I can help someone else.’ There was never a self-focus. Some of their biggest heartaches were they couldn’t help who they wanted to help because of the situation they were in.”
The motivation of his subjects was what propelled the project. “If I would have jumped to conclusions and didn’t even read the first couple of pages of their book, so to speak, I would have never known how wonderful a person this is and what they bring to my life,” said Bacon.
Bacon describes his work, and this project specifically, as a very intimate, one-on-one experience. “When you look into that photograph that’s on the wall and you look at them, it’s like, ‘oh my gosh, I can pretty much feel their skin,’” he said. “Look at their eyes and you can feel their joy or their pain and all those different things.”
The exhibit at Southwest Tech is on display in the cafeteria and will be available for viewing during normal business hours through March 13.
A recording of Bacon’s presentation will be available on the Southwest Tech DEI website (swtc.edu/dei) after it is has been closed captioned. A list of local resources will be available so that anyone who is experiencing homelessness knows where they can receive assistance and those who may wish to contribute to someone getting back on their feet knows how to reach those who are in need.
• In 2015, Bacon founded and launched the nonprofit humanitarian story movement, 7 Billion Ones, which documents lives, shares stories, connects community and empowers mankind. 7 Billion Ones is fully dedicated to using the art of photography, motion films, and written word to present people’s unique stories in an artful, raw, impacting form, so that human transformation occurs exponentially.
More information about Bacon’s work can be found at randybacon.com
| Southwest Wisconsin Technical College is one of 16 institutions that comprise the Wisconsin Technical College System. Southwest Tech offers more than 60 programs in a wide variety of disciplines. Courses are offered on campus, online and in a blended format. The college provides apprenticeship, certificate, technical diploma, and associate degree programs that respond to district workforce needs and prepare student for family-sustaining jobs and career advancement. |