Sudbury photo exhibit focuses on life of homeless and near-homeless

Anew art exhibit in Sudbury, Ont., is profiling the difficult living conditions of homeless or near-homeless people in the northeast withphotographstaken by the people who live it every day.

Participants were given a camera and asked to take pictures of where they were currently living.

Carol Kauppi, director of Laurentian University'sCentre for Research in Social Justice and Policy,hopes the exhibit at Gallery 6500will show how substandard housing affects a person's mental health.

"Many people, especially people in the mainstream, don't really understand what circumstances of living in extreme poverty or homelessness are all about,"said Kauppi, who has been studying homelessness in the northeast since 2000. "This exhibit will enable people to see through the eyes of those who took the photographs."

The photographers are homeless or near-homeless people in Sudbury, Cochrane, Fort Albany First Nation and Constance Lake First Nation.

The exhibit, whichis being staged by the Poverty, Homelessness and Migration project at Laurentian, runs until July 11.

The opening reception will be held Sunday at 2 p.m.