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When Central Current, a nonprofit news organization, started in 2020, it was the perfect opportunity for freelance photographer Mike Greenlar to do the exact work he wished to do — taking pictures of people with underreported stories.

“I’ve always had personal projects — like charcoal workers in Haiti, an Algonquin family that I lived with in Canada, I did a book on unexploded ordnance in Laos,” Greenlar said. “​​This is the kind of photography that I’ve always been involved in.”

Greenlar has been part of the Central Current team since 2022 and worked on its most recent collaboration with ArtRage Gallery, titled “A Place To Call Home.” The exhibit is on display through March 22, and it features 20 of Greenlar’s photos and 19 of photographer Michelle Gabel’s.

Originally proposed in March 2023, the exhibit dives into the housing crisis in Syracuse, capturing the intersectional identities of those struggling with housing insecurity and those who have found homes through the organization A Tiny Home for Good. Both Greenlar and Gabel began shooting in March 2024, and it took them roughly a year to build enough trust and inventory for their exhibit.

“Michelle and I just went on our own and came back with an exhibit that kind of had both sides of the housing crisis, a solution with Michelle’s photographs of the tiny homes, and I concentrated on some of the people that were struggling with their housing,” Greenlar said.

Greenlar and Gabel took their creative approaches in different directions and explored a range of personalities in their photographs. Greenlar honed in on a specific resident, Denise Masterson, whom he came to know through multiple meetings and photography sessions. Greenlar even bought her a shopping cart so she could transport groceries more easily, since she didn’t have access to a car.

Gabel, on the other hand, took a different, broader approach. Gabel found that in her approach to this project, she wanted to answer questions about the impact of housing issues on certain groups and how emotional support is administered to victims of housing issues.

“The whole project is daunting,” Gabel said. “A lot of people haven’t really seen spaces where the challenges that people face are right there.”

Gabel said that part of what she loves about photography is that you can use powerful images to bring awareness to a situation. Working on this exhibit with the angle of hope allowed her to share the stories of people who had struggled with housing but found success, and what changes can be made with a little bit of support and help along the way.

The exhibit’s collection of photographs took about a year to put together because Greenlar and Gabel had to build relationships and trust with the community. Chris Libonati, managing editor of Central Current and Syracuse University alumnus, said their subjects let them into one of the most vulnerable and toughest parts of their lives, and doing that takes time.

Reggie, one of Gabel’s subjects who did not provide his last name, even went out and bought his own camera — inspired by Gabel’s work. Reggie and the rest of Gabel’s subjects had established a strong sense of trust with Gabel herself, and because of the relationship they built, the experience they went through was unlike anything she’s done before.

“They wanted to see themselves represented,” Gabel said. “The relationships that you build, building that trust, it doesn’t come right away. You don’t just walk in.”

Inspired by the freelance photographers’ work, Libonati wanted to focus Gabel and Greenlar’s talents on creating something meaningful. The nearly 40 photographs shown in the exhibit were created with the hope to push people to gather together and actually have a conversation about this reality.

“There are so many stories to tell,” Libonati said. “This exhibit is great, but we’re only going to tell a fraction. It’s a real shock, because it’s a real comprehensive issue. I hope that people engage with the folks on the ground to understand what they’re going through, and so I hope people see this.”

After the exhibit concludes at ArtRage, all the photographs will run on the Central Current website. Libonati says the exhibit not only matches Central Current’s editorial goals, but helps to display the personal impacts of Syracuse’s housing crisis.

“We can talk about rent and we can talk about the cost of buying a home all we want, but unless we’re putting a face on it so people can understand the personal stories, no one will get a full understanding of the crisis in a way that moves them to action,” Libonati said.

Published on February 18, 2025 at 12:09 am