"You! Your goal was met. I thoughtfully walked down these halls and looked at these photographs, and it changed my perspective. These people –that I have mixed emotions about – that I have tried to make invisible have stories, have truths, and they are not invisible. I came to view the exhibit as an exercise of my own person creative recovery and this exhibit was part of a “lesson” for me to pay attention and to see parts of myself that I have chosen to ignore, that I have neglected. Thank you for paying attention."

 

 

"Your photos are so moving. The homeless are so often overlooked. I participated in project Homeless 2015 and was heartbroken to see what people in our own community live with on a daily basis. As you have drawn attention to the less fortunate, it would be a good idea to include ways those touched by your photos can help. People don’t realize that these photos could easily have been of themselves. If they had been in similar circumstances. I applaud your attention to detail and perfectly named photos. Your photos have moved me to action and I plan to begin volunteering at soup kitchens. Thank you.  L"

 

 

"You have made the invisible people visible. My son died on the streets 5 years ago. Thank you."

 

"Looking at these pictures make you stop and think, in so many ways, also you ask yourself  WHY?"

"Your exhibit changed the way I see things. These neighbors of ours are in my prayers. Thank you for capturing theses souls we never see."

 

"In the presentation by Vincent Lawson on his artwork and emotional connection called “Our Neighbors,” he poured out his heart about the homeless people with whom he encountered. He continually stated that, after he would get his snapshots, he “asked himself how these people were treated.” In the photo of the old man who died just two days after the picture was taken, he asked himself “what if that was a dog lying there?” Would someone help the dog? Or would it just lie there, too? That intrigued me."

 

"Another part of the presentation that touched me was the McKemie Place photographs. These ladies experienced a rebirth when they got “made up and dressed nicely.” They said that it was the first time that they ever heard anyone tell them that they “looked good.” This statement by Lawson made me quite sad. Their facial expressions completely altered when they actually encountered someone caring about them. Their self-confidence was shown positively in the “AFTER” photo."

 

"This relates to Social Psychology, especially the facial expressions part. We definitely make snap judgments about people."

 

"Facial expressions

            One of the first things we usually notice about another person is the face

            The face communicates information such as emotional state, interest, and trustworthiness"

 

 

"Overall, Vincent Lawson’s emotion and artwork proved that all people, me included, need to take a minute before judging."

 

 

"I personally loved the Lawson photo talk. It takes a special person to take something that most people find repulsive or choose to turn a blind eye to and make it as beautiful as he does. The biggest part of the beauty in his project is that he is making beautify picture but he is also touching the lives of people. He gives most of these people what they want, just someone to talk to. And he is so modest about it, i don't think that he understand what he is actually doing for these people and i think that’s what makes it absolutely amazing. I got the chance to work in a men’s homeless shelter in New Orleans a couple years ago and it changed my outlook on life dramatically. Hearing the stories of all the people that came through the shelter was something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Lawson is using this as a tool to help these people in his own way but it also reminds the rest of us that these people are human too. We take for granted the things that we have in life while these people are starving on the side of the road. In the first picture the man was starving to death with a fork in his hand. He was grasping an item that would later lead to his demise. It's hard to face that this is something that happens here in Mobile, you think that it is something that happens in big cities. However, it is something that is right under our noses and for the most part none of us do anything about it when we have multiple chances to help. I am just as guilty as the next person of looking at a homeless person and thinking that they are probably lazy or have some sort of substance problem and I can blame this on the personal experience of my life. For the most part these are people that have has a tragic event happen."

 

 

"I didn't expect, in all honesty, for the Lawson photo event to have the impact on me that it did. However, the event really did hit home for me. The first picture that we saw was disturbing and disheartening to say the least. The man, who was literally laying on the ground starving to death, was holding a fork or spoon in his hand. What struck me about that was that it was as if he was holding the very thing that ended up killing. It's kind of like smoking a cigarette, except this was completely against this man's will. Also, what I found to be utterly disgusting about this photo was the fact he was laying in front of a famous restaurant in downtown Mobile, which means that he was dying of starvation in front of an establishment that wastes pounds of food each day by throwing it away.
The other photo that really hit me hard was one of the pictures of the women in the home for homeless women. The woman, who was the only white woman that we saw a picture of from the homeless shelter, had a look in her eye that reminded me exactly of my mother. Though my mother was not homeless, she did have a major drug issue that eventually took her life. I saw the same hopeless and lost look in her eyes often, and when I saw the picture of the woman from the home I was flooded with memories of my own mother.
Our society can be so cruel and so heartless, which is absolutely terrifying. As an individual, all I can do is try and do my very best to help those that have been knocked down and beaten by the world we live in, and that's exactly what I plan to do with my life and career."