"Milano “senza dimora” the photographic documentation project by Luca Meola will open its doors to the public on September 28th.

The exhibition “Milano homeless”, a research and photographic documentation project promoted by the independent organization Codici, by the Welfare and Health Department of the Municipality of Milano and from the Network of serious adult marginalization of the third sector and citizen volunteering.
The beyond 160 photographs on display, taken by the photographer Luke Meola, they explore the daily lives of homeless people, describing itineraries, meeting places and support networks that often remain invisible.

Developed between 2023 and 2024, the project involved a team composed of the photographer, two social researchers and 15 homeless people – not simple photographic subjects but active protagonists – who shared their experience to map a Milano different, made of hospitality, between dormitories, canteens, assistance and gestures of solidarity, but also marked by inequality and loneliness.

“This initiative – declares Welfare and Health councilor Lamberto Bertolé – it is an opportunity to engage with the city, starting from the effort that the city network coordinated by the Municipality has carried out in recent years to build effective strategies on serious marginalisation and, at the same time, not underestimating the contradictions and difficulties that characterize Milano, like all large urban centers. The commitment is to work on structural responses to support the most vulnerable people in a path of social redemption. The exhibition and the related program have the merit of entering tiptoe but with determination into a world - that of those who live on the streets - often closed and inaccessible, to promote the development of an informed point of view on this phenomenon so complex. Not looking away is the first step to truly understanding.”

“To take these shots – explains photographer Luca Meola -, I walked alongside each of the 15 homeless people involved, for hours. I collected images and stories to document their daily lives, often made of repetitive activities and movements, with a gaze of deep closeness and sharing. Later, I returned alone to the places visited to capture the urban environment with a more detached and analytical approach, highlighting the contradictions of a city which on the one hand offers fundamental resources and services, but on the other fuels dynamics of exclusion”.

"Milano homeless – explains Jacopo Lareno Faccini, one of the researchers at Codici who worked on the project – it is not only a visual story to overcome prejudices, but also a tool for shared reflection on how Milano can simultaneously welcome or reject, connect or isolate. These images tell the story of the living conditions and dignity of people who occupy the most marginal positions. and exposed, but also the possibilities for change. The project intends to open a dialogue between the public, institutions and assistance networks, to seek solutions that aim to improve the living conditions of those in situations of serious marginalization. It is an open question: What future can we build for a Milano really more inclusive?”.

The exhibition will be can be visited free of charge, starting from September 28th (from 18.30 pm) until the 6 October, in the Colonne room of the Fabbrica del Vapore in via Procaccini 4. From Monday to Friday it will be open from 16pm to 19.30pm, while on Sunday 29 September, Saturday 5 October, Sunday 6 October from 9am to 19.30pm.

"Milano “homeless” is not only a photographic exhibition, but also a temporary cultural space that will host workshops, talks and activities.

Scheduled events

• Saturday 28 September, 18.30 pm – Exhibition opening.
  With the Mobile Units of the Milanese Network and with the Third Sector bodies that participate in the serious adult marginalisation system of the Municipality of Milano.
  Ribbon cutting with the Municipal Administration, the Sammartini Center of the Municipality of Milano and the photographer Luca Meola.
• Saturday, September 28, 20:00 p.m. – Screening of the film “Perfect Days”. In collaboration with Spazio Anteo.
  Introduction by the Municipality of Milano and Codes: Presentation of the exhibition and a short video on the path that led to its creation
• Thursday, October 3, 18-19.30:XNUMX p.m. – Public talk: What’s happening in the city? Stories, data and perspectives for reading the city.
  What do they tell us about Milano the stories, data and latest research on homelessness? Which city emerges? The images of the exhibition and the ethnographic stories collected by the photographer Luca Meola will be put in relation with the data collected with the racCONTAMI 2024 survey carried out by the De Benedetti Foundation and the Municipality of Milano and the social impact assessment of the system of city services to support homeless people conducted by SDA Bocconi. Conclusions by Gabriele Pasqui, DAStU Politecnico di Milano.
• Friday, October 4, 18-19.30:XNUMX p.m. – Public Talk: Telling the Margins from the Margins. What Narratives Are Possible?
  A moment of discussion on the possible narratives of and from the margins. How to tell fragility? What perspectives to adopt? What ethical questions does the narration of the other pose to us and how to promote self-narrations of communities?
  In conversation with IN/stabile – Community Narration; MuBig Community Museum; Triennale Milano – Inequalities; Opera Nomadi Travel Museum c/o Campo Peppino Impastato and Terre di Mezzo – The Night of the Homeless. Moderated by Anna Chiara Cimoli, University of Bergamo.