Inspirational People is a collaboration between The Booth Centre, Manchester, and photographer Matt Priestley to create an exhibition which celebrates the strengths of people who have experienced homelessness. The exhibition will be on display within the Ground Transport Interchange at Manchester Airport until 18^th March 2019.

Individuals featured in the exhibition attended the launch hosted by Airport City Manchester giving local businesses and airport customers an insight into their personal background, sharing detail of how the Booth Centre has helped them over their many years of being homeless.

The Booth Centre has been assisting those affected by homelessness in Manchester for over twenty years. It’s mission is to bring about positive change in the lives of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, helping them plan for, and, realise a better future. As part of this mission the Centre runs an innovative Arts Programme which enables the artists to express their talents and develop artistically.

Matt Priestley has worked as a free-lance photographer for the last twenty years. Prior to that he worked for ten years in statutory social work in Greater Manchester. He has run photography projects with a variety of public and charitable organizations who support and advocate for vulnerable groups. The projects have encouraged participants to document and reflect on their lives, learn key aspects of the photographic process, and stage exhibitions of their work in public spaces and art venues.

The portraits and the artworks are in stark contrast to the usual media depictions of homelessness. All too often they feature black-and-white images of people begging or sleeping in doorways. They portray people as faceless victims with no individuality. They tend to focus on rough sleeping and don’t show the bigger picture. Which is that people from all walks of life can find themselves homeless.

Although some may end up on the streets, very few of them will ever resort to begging. Many more live in hostels or sofa-surf with friends. And most importantly, people are climbing out of homelessness every day. Rebuilding their lives. Making positive contributions to their communities.

As part of the exhibition there is a book you can purchase which shares stories of those featured within the exhibition, and with every purchase a donation of £5.00 goes directly to the Booth Centre.

For more information and how to purchase the book see: http://inspirationalpeople.co.uk/book/

For more information on the Booth Centre see: www.boothcentre.org.uk