Pat Taub
When Joanne Arnold turned 50 her life felt empty. After raising three children, she suddenly had time on her hands. She was without direction, without meaning and purpose. Ever since she was a child, the one place where she felt alive was in “first light,” or the time right before dawn.
Joanne Arnold, courtesy of the Thornton Academy
This remembering prompted her to get up early, which soon became a pattern, where every morning, with camera in hand, she took pictures of Portland, Maine’s waterfront. Twelve years later she’s still out the door every morning to catch the first light.
Joanne started seeing beauty everywhere she looked: in the patterns made by oil on the water or in icicles reflecting the dawn’s light. She came alive, experiencing a “ferocious love” for what the early mornings gave her.
Joanne Arnold
Joanne went from taking nature photos to those of the fisherman, capturing poetry in routine activities like a fisherman repairing his nets. A block adjacent to the waterfront was an unhoused community, including addicts and the mentally ill, people ignored by society. Cautiously and with curiosity, Joanne stopped looking away and began to interact with the unhoused, making eye contact and conversation, and offering coffee cards. She learned the importance of setting strong boundaries so she didn’t feel a need to fix anyone, just to be present.
Joanne would sit on the street with a few of the unhoused, experiencing the humiliation of being shunned: “People even pulled their dogs away from us.”
Joanne Arnold
Over time Joanne asked members of the unhoused community for permission to photograph them. Sometimes community members would request that she photograph them. The images she creates are the result of this collaborative exchange. They are striking in their beauty and their vulnerability. It was a gift for many in the community to be felt seen in a world that renders them invisible. She comments, ‘I felt like I was in the Family of Man. Even though it was a crazy and dysfunctional family.’
Key to Joanne’s ability to connect with the unhoused is seeing them with a spirit of “wonder and curiosity and not judgment,” adding, “We never know someone’s story.”
Joanne Arnold
Listening to Joanne describe her encounters made me realize how little I know about this community and how what I do know has been shaped by prejudice at odds with the unhoused Joanne met. She describes a caring community where each day one of the members greets her with a needs list that might include socks or a blanket. * Joanne reflected, “Some people on the street are kinder to one another than what I’ve observed in elite circles.”
Joanne Arnold
Joanne lays bare the stereotype of the unhoused as lacking ambition, offering the example of a man, seen as “a threat to society,” to whom she gave a book. “It was just a book but with that information he turned his world around. He got sober, and now lives in Boston, working as a pipe fitter and a part time Yoga teacher, while volunteering with the unhoused on Boston’s Mass. Ave.”
Talking with Joanne felt like being in the presence of a Buddhist teacher.
I asked her if she ever got depressed taking in so many stories of hardship. She replied, “I don’t see brokenness. I see the person’s heart.” Or when I commented that it seemed like a big sacrifice to get up on mornings when it’s raining or bitter cold, she responded, “It’s not a big sacrifice because I get a benefit package that’s huge; there are always surprises.”
Joanne Arnold
Joanne reflected: “What turned the tide for me was when I listened to myself.
“Those quirky little things inside me were what I was drawn to instead of denigrating myself by ignoring them. . . Now I feel like I’m being true to myself.”
During our interview Joanne kept returning to the importance of connection and compassion. If we lived according to Joanne’s Big C’s we could transform our communities from ones of hate and division to ones caring for one another. Joanne’s homeless photos bear witness to the power of connection.
Joanne Arnold
*For readers wanting to make direct donations: paypal.me/joannearnoldefforts or www.joannarnold.com
To view and purchase Joanne’s photos: www.joannearnold.com
Among Joanne’s nature photos for sale
