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Boston Common was founded in 1634 and is America’s oldest public park. Commonly called “the Common,” this park has gone through many changes over the course of its 350 year history. Originally used a grazing pasture for cows, it has also served as a military camp ground, a hanging site, a public demonstration site, and a gathering spot for locals and tourists alike. Today the Common has taken on yet another purpose: home.
Boston’s homeless street population is about 8,000 people. Approximately 200 of those live and sleep on the street. This number may have even ballooned recently due to Massachusetts closing all of its mental institutions in the past few years. Whether the source of people be that or America’s recent financial crisis or anything else, the homeless community is alive and well and living in Common. Pigeons are also an integral part of the Common community. They inhabit the Common in ways that are eerily similar to their human counterparts. This photographic essay attempts to capture some of the dynamics of the inhabitants of the Common and how they utilize its space. The Common was designed as a shared public space and has very few amenities that the average urban citizen would associate with home. These photographs aim to show how homeless people use the Common as their home. Sources Boston Common. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2011, from CityofBoston.gov: http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/emerald/Boston_common.asp Nuss, J. (2009, December 15). Out on street, Hub tallies its homeless. Boston Globe. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/12/15/boston_conducts_census_of_homeless_on_the_streets/ |
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