Responses to

Homeless in Holyoke

photos by Kip McNeil

beautiful work Kip...i just happened to find it and had to tell you
how tallented you are. I hope all is well, and that one day we'll cross pathes
again.

Allison Freedenfeld
10/17/06

I Found Kip McNeil's "Homeless in Holyoke" to quite interesting: None of the photos depict actual homeless people themselves, but focus instead on what appear to be makeshift living areas used by the homeless. The exclusion of people raises all kinds of uncertainties, as the viewer doesn't know the full story behind the images. Whether anybody calls any of these living areas "home" is unknown; it can’t be discerned who has inhabited them, or at what time. This seemed to me to be a way of representing the day-to-day uncertainties regarding shelter that are inherent in being homeless.
With the exception of the fifth picture, a high angle view of a dilapidated brick building with boarded up windows, all the photos are in black and white. The desaturated colors serve to saturate the photos with a dreary, nearly hopeless mood. They have a Great Depression era feel about them. The dreary mood is maintained even in the color photo of the brick building. In the photo the sky is a grayish white and the building is pretty consistently reddish brown, the exception being the boards on the windows, which are a light brown. The result of such a narrow range of color is a sense of drabness that works well with the mood set by the other photos.

Dan Finnegan
12/12/05

very nice images and a wonderful tonal range. Great emotion and a feeling of presence within each image. very nice piece.

Lucian Capellaro
4/7/04

These pictures do a good job of showing the the beauty that lies in wreckage and ruins. The shots captures a lot more than just the images. it captures the mood as well. the black and white ones (all but 1 of them)have an eerie feel to them. Especially ones with flowing cloth (that kind of look like ghosts). There are many emotions that are sparked from each picture.

Katie
12/2/03

Look at the photos, Homeless in Holyoke.

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