American Outsiders by photographer Tom Stone

I stumbled upon Tom Stones sensitive and exellent portraits of the least in the American society when i searched Youtube for the song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" that Tom Waits recorded a couple of years ago.  Once you seen these images, captured by photographer, Tom Stone, you will never forget them. 

Tom Stones social documentary style and visually striking portraits really hits me right in my heart. I belive that true wealth is to be known and appreciated among the least of us. In my eyes is Tom a wealthy man because of his important work among the homeless and his commitment to change the situation for them with the help of his camera.

Tom Stone is a socially aware photographer and that makes his work all the more amazing in my eyes. I made contact with Tom and asked him if it was ok if i published some of his photos and his biography and statement in my blog. Tom was delighted by the idea. I´m including his Artist Statement from his homepage because i haven’t ever read a better one. Please read the whole article before you pay a visit to Tom Stones homepage and flickr account.


Faith & Grace. Homeless woman, San Francisco, february 2006 © Tom Stone

Biography
Tom Stone was born on a train outside of Mexico City traveling to Puerto Angel, Oaxaca. His parents separated soon after his birth.  He spent his early childhood with his mother communally in Los Angeles' famed Source Family; and after its dispersion, in various nomadic settings in Hawaii and California.

A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in Computer Science, he worked in Silicon Valley for a number of years in investment banking and in the technology industry.

He is an artist known for his deeply emotional iconic images.  He seeks to photograph people along the lesser and greater edges of exercised authority, control and influence.  This motivates his humanitarian photography as well as his commercial and entertainment work. 

His humanitarian series share perspective with the work of Dorothea Lange, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus and Sebastião Salgado.


Life & death. Homeless man in tenderloin just diagnosed with cancer, San Francisco, june 2006 © Tom Stone

Artist Statement
I photograph people who skirt the edges of things; people whose connection to the broader flow is murky or obscured.  Mistaken as more, less or different than they are; they aren’t really seen and don’t really belong.  That’s everyone sometimes; but some more often.  I try to establish a line for a moment.  I hope to connect.  And I see the most beautiful and the most heartbreaking things.

To my thinking, the original human trauma is our separation.  We are too close not to need each other; and too far to trust each other.  We rely on dubious senses and clever devices to interact; but we are alone in our thoughts.  Lonely, insecure and uncertain; we pair, we group, we associate.  We try to belong and we seek to exclude.  We form bonds by geography, religion, economy and otherwise.  But it is all precarious.  We come together and we drive apart.

And we climb our ladder.  We step away from those who don’t belong and help those who do.  We are connected rung by rung – though less and less – as we push and pull.  But some do not climb; and below, the earth is littered with them.  They fit too poorly.  They stand apart.  They stand without. 


Camping. Homeless girl camped out in park, San Francisco, may 2006 © Tom Stone

And what of them; these ones who don’t belong or who are excluded; who don’t fit or don’t try?  Is there nothing they value?  Is there nothing of them we value?  I count it as a measure of our ignorance, the depth of poverty in the world.  It’s a glaring marker to how far we have not come.  Yet it has also driven our advance; on less fortunate backs and against less fortunate fate. 

But is there really no connection there?  Does such fate – whether choice or circumstance – speak nothing of us?  Tell me we do more than advance in place; with so many left behind.  Or promise me we can do better.  Say we can reflect ourselves; us and them... That we can see the ways we overlap and distinguish the ways we grow apart.  And pledge that we can learn; to fit all of our misshapes; to reward value beyond charity and beyond the marketplace; to be better to each other; to be better ourselves.  And promise me it could be a better world. Or tell me we are at our best.

/Tom Stone

Listen to this song and look at the pictures it´s an direct order: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNQkSe-lzm0

Please pay a visit to Tom Stones homepage and to his flickr account:
http://www.tomstonegallery.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneth

All Images © Tom Stone. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission.

//Chasid

Ps: Feel free to post your comment in Swedish if you prefer it.

2011-10-31 16:08   dig

Vackert och samtidigt ett slag på käften som känns efteråt. Mycket bra!
/Jonas

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Svar från Chasid 2011-10-31 16:21

När jag först såg Toms bilder tillsammans med Gavin Bryars och Tom Waits låt "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" fick jag tårar i ögonen. För att citera Frank Kafka: “En bok måste vara som en yxa för det frusna havet inom oss". Toms bilder är som en yxa i mitt frusna hav.
//Chasid

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