Maybelle's Room, The Upstairs, Cleveland

Melissa Shook’s portraits and interviews of women in homeless shelters arose from her experiences volunteering at women’s shelters in Boston. In 1992, two Cleveland social service agencies, the Federation for Community Planning and Cleveland Health Care for the Homeless, invited her to photograph women in Cleveland shelters. Her images reveal the challenges these women face, their resilience and determination to rebuild their lives, and the societal and personal cost of homelessness.

A horizontally oriented black-and-white photograph features a dark plane punctuated by a central, crumpled white form. Three vertical white columns stand parallel in the center, flanked to the right by a translucent rectangular shape. A wide, grainy wooden beam cuts diagonally across the bottom edge. Scattered white specks dot the black void, creating a stark, high-contrast composition where light-toned objects float against a deep, textured background.

Maybelle's Room, The Upstairs, Cleveland

1992

Melissa Shook

(American, 1939–2020)

America

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