Heading Home is honored to have our residents and clients featured in the artistic exhibit, “Don’t Look Away: A reintroduction to homelessness” at the UNM Domenici Center for Health Sciences and Education — West Wing Lobby. The exhibit chronicles stories of residents at our Albuquerque Opportunity Center (AOC) men’s emergency shelter, and clients in our Albuquerque Heading Home program.

From the exhibit description:

Homelessness is everywhere, yet we often fail to see the people themselves who are experiencing homelessness. A new exhibit at the UNM Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education shatters that wall of denial by posing a deceptively simple question: Who are they? This collection of 14 people, accompanied by their first-person narratives of homelessness, helps provide an answer. Like everyone, those who are homeless have stories — absorbing accounts of accident, illness, financial misfortune and abuse. There are also examples of unexpected optimism and endurance that attest to the power of human resilience. This project, sponsored by Bennahum Medical Humanities Fellowship and the UNM School of Medicine, is a powerful reminder that those without homes, who live and work among us, are mothers, fathers, siblings and grandparents. They are us.

Third-year medical student Ellen Hatch conducted interviews, and photographer Tyler Green produced amazing portraits for the exhibit. The two also produced the accompanying edition of the biannual Medical Muse publication. Ellen Hatch has been an ongoing participant at the UNM weekly medical clinic at AOC which offers triage services for our residents.

The exhibit opened on January 18th and will be on display through May 18th, 2018. Copies of this special issue of the Medical Muse are available in the UNM Health Sciences Library and Information Center.

Thank you to Ellen Hatch, Tyler Green and all the staff at the UNM Health Science Center that made this exhibit possible.