Urban Exposure

I was born on the Oregon coast, in a tourist town, and grew up in a house on a logging road. Marriage took me to Virginia, where I had four kids before making it back home to the West Coast and settling in Portland. I’m an odd duck who doesn’t fit into any place or group.

Portland was very dark and chaotic. I needed to take what was making me feel angry and trapped and turn it into an art form that made me feel a sense of agency. A mentor loaned me a DSLR, and I started roaming the city on foot, aiming to learn. This led me into the homeless community with open curiosity.

I naturally began trying to bring some help, light, and humanity to these people I was encountering and befriending. I’ve tracked the lives and deaths of people on the streets, found family members, narcanned countless people back to life, fed many, dressed wounds, clothed people, heard and told countless stories, celebrated birthdays and mourned losses, been attacked, been protected, been socially and publicly vilified, and loved.

Portland has been drained of its blood by bad leadership and bad actors. But at the core is still this incredible natural beauty for miles in every direction, an entrepreneurial and artistic culture, lovely old architecture, amazing food, and an openness to the quirky and unusual. It truly used to be one of the greatest places on earth to me. It’s my home. Now it’s my husband and children’s home too. I do hope there are brighter days ahead for Portland. If not, I’ll still be here showing and telling.

I wanted to show in my photos what people look at and avoid, and to make it beautiful in its own way—not glamorize.

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul

Tara Faul