Couldn't load pickup availability
First edition of 400. No reprint.
Fewer than 250 copies left.
Why I made this book
In 2022 I was in New York because two of my series were on show: Antique Pink at Photoville and SOLD at a LensCulture exhibition in Chelsea. While I was there I kept reading about the enormous problem of homelessness in the city. Article after article, and almost nowhere did the people it concerns get to speak.
I immediately thought of a portrait series with the stories of the people portrayed, in their own words.
Three days into that first visit I met Kate Barnhart of New Alternatives. That Sunday, at a community dinner, four young people told me they wanted to be part of this. One of them said: “No one’s ever interested in us. No one sees us.” That evening was the start of a project I worked on with heart and soul.
I worked on it for two years. It grew into an outdoor exhibition in New York’s West Village that ran all summer, with every portrait and story on the streets. Watching people stop, read and listen, I knew these stories needed to live on, in a book.
I grew up gay in a small Dutch town. I know what it is to hide parts of yourself to feel safe. This book exists because I couldn’t not make it.
Ernst Coppejans
From the Streets to the Heart is a photobook of thirty LGBTQIA+ young people in New York who were pushed into homelessness simply for being themselves. Thirty portraits, thirty cityscapes, thirty life stories. Scan the QR code in the book and you can hear the participants speak in their own voices.
What readers say
“The people so often discussed in generic, cold soundbites are far more multifaceted and beautiful than that. I wish for them (and this book) to be seen by as many people as possible.”
Sascha Spijker, Amsterdam
“Ernst has a gift for capturing his subjects as their most beautiful selves. That quality, combined with the book’s polished presentation, makes this so much more than just a collection of often heartbreaking stories; it is an impressive monument to resilience.”
Jay L., New York
“This book reminds me that every step forward in LGBTQ+ rights was built on personal courage, and that the struggle might never truly be over. … Every few days, I find myself wanting to read the next story, yet I often need some time before I feel ready to pick up the book again.”
Edgar Raen, Brussels
“Buy this book as a gift for yourself and (here’s a tip) for anyone who has ever wondered if they truly belong.”
J. Stevens, Zurich
“I found this book a very valuable addition to my collection of photobooks.”
Rijko Ebens, Groningen
About the book
Between 2022 and 2024, award-winning Dutch photographer Ernst Coppejans traveled repeatedly to New York City to meet and photograph LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness. Each portrait comes with a fragment of the person’s own story, raw and unfiltered.
The project grew into a large outdoor exhibition in New York’s West Village (summer 2024), presented with Photoville and the Netherlands Consulate General, where it reached thousands of visitors. Now these stories live on in book form, with essays by Ernst Coppejans and Kate Barnhart of New Alternatives NYC.
What’s inside
30 portraits of LGBTQIA+ youth in NYC
30 New York cityscapes as visual counterpoints
30 personal testimonies, printed alongside the portraits
A QR code linking to recorded voices of the participants
Essays and reflections by Ernst Coppejans and Kate Barnhart
Specifications
Format: Hardcover, sewn binding
Pages: 224
Size: 18 x 26.7 cm (approx.)
Paper: Arctic Volume White 150 gsm
Printing: Full-color offset
Edition: First edition of 400, no reprint
Language: English
Shipping
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands.
