Emergency Overflow Shelter, First United Methodist Church, 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 depicts three metal-framed cots with canvas tops against intersecting brick walls. The cots are arranged in a row upon a tiled floor where deep shadows pool. On our right, a blurred person with a light skin tone, wearing a light sweater and trousers, moves away while carrying a dark bundle. A dark cloth rests on the cot closest to us.

Emergency Overflow Shelter, First United Methodist Church, Cleveland

1992

Melissa Shook

(American, 1939–2020)

America

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