'Stories Behind the Fog' Brings Locals Face-To-Face With SF's Homeless

Dianna, a San Jose native living in temporary housing in San Francisco. (Photos courtesy of Stories Behind The Fog)

[Editor's Note: Hoodline is participating in this week's SF Homeless Project, in which more than 80 area publications are each covering homelessness issues in their own ways.

While we already write about these issues often, we hope that our stories will add more neighborhood context to this very complicated topic, and to the great work being published elsewhere. You can read more about the project here.]

A small local arts collective is empowering San Francisco residents to share their stories of experiencing homelessness with the masses.

Since November of 2015, the website Stories Behind the Fog has strived to humanize homelessness by telling the stories of individuals San Franciscans see on the streets each day. Through a combination of images, poetry, long and short form narration, SBTF illuminates the diversity of San Francisco’s homeless population while inviting local storytellers to contribute to the platform.

The project spun out from the making of the documentary ‘Moses,’ which profiles a homeless man whom documentarian, and SBTF cofounder, Fran Gujiarro began interviewing 10 years ago, while a film student. Gujiarro's time filming Moses over the years with cinematographer and fellow SBTF cofounder Juli Lopez gave way to several short documentaries, as well as the soon to be released, full-length feature film 'Moses.'

“Moses started the entire platform,” says Diya Guha, project lead for Stories Behind the Fog.

“With documentary films, people watch a film and they feel empathy, but they walk out with nothing else than emotions," she said. "So we wanted to give a call to action, something very tangible and so it was conceived from the film."

The full-length documentary is expected to debut in July 2017.

In the last year, Guha and her team have interviewed 72 homeless individuals residing in San Francisco—including local men and women, San Francisco transplants, transgender youth, veterans and others. Many of those stories are now live on their website, Medium and Tumblr.

“Human interaction can go miles to change somebody’s life, especially on the streets,” says Guha, who spearheads the organization's outreach efforts in SoMa and the Tenderloin.

The team also believes that sharing these stories widely can lead to changing society's mindset toward the homeless and eventually policy change.

To help SBTF readers better connect with individuals profiled, Stories Behind the Fog seeks artists of all disciplines to interview, write and photograph subjects' stories. The team recognizes that professional storytellers are best equipped to represent the narratives of the homeless, and instill an emotional connection between readers and subjects, Guha explained.

Harold Shang Lee Lopez, who has been living in a tent for five years after bouncing in and out of incarceration.

SBTF also partners with nonprofit organizations across the Bay Area to connect with homeless individuals to profile. They currently have 13 partnership with service providers, shelters and advocacy groups—including North Beach Citizens, The Gubbio Project in the Tenderloin and Hamilton Families serving the Upper Haight, NoPa and the Tenderloin.

These connections allow Guha and team to meet individuals who are compelled to speak out about their life experiences. It’s also a rare opportunity for current or formerly homeless individuals to have a professional photograph taken—which is often paired with a burrito or cup of coffee, Guha noted.

Currently, Stories Behind the Fog is sponsored by the International Documentary Association, which also supports the film ‘Moses.’

But the team is currently raising funds to turn the stories they're collecting into a coffee table book of San Francisco street residents. The book will feature 100 stories, covering a range of homeless experiences, as well as interviews with homeless advocates in San Francisco. All proceeds from the book will be directed to SBTF partners. Donations to the project are being accepted online here.

As part of this week's SF Homeless Project, we're partnering with Stories Behind The Fog to highlight the voices of current and former homeless people residing in our neighborhoods. You can meet Chef Richard in SoMa, Bonnie in the Financial District and look for additional profiles on our site throughout this week.