Thermotaxis follows The Character on their escalating search for comfort. This visual allegory shows how destitution feels. Multiple exposures batter The Character into an almost grotesque amalgam. A visual representation of how instability and trauma compound. The Character is faceless. This suggests destitution can befall anyone. It also points toward the instinct to hide our destitution – especially in society that prods us to pretend life is a never-ending scroll of vacation photos.

This series of self-portraits was created The People of Detroit founder and commercial photographer Noah Stephens [Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, the City of Detroit, Senator Mallory McMorrow, FX, General Motors] in the middle of a Midwest American winter.

Noah worked mostly in the dead of night with a 35mm digital camera and either a 20mm or 35mm lens. The multiple exposures were made both in-camera and in post. The camera was triggered remotely using Pocketwizards. Some images only required a backpack, tripod, and the setting sun. Others demanded Noah haul 130 pounds of lighting and grip equipment into a snowy ravine at 3:30 am.

Location scouting was relatively easy.

”I’ve been lucky enough to almost exclusively earn a living with photography for nearly 16 years,” Noah said.

“Almost.”

”There have been times when I reached for the next financial vine and grabbed nothing. When you’ve been without shelter, you reflexively notice places that might be a good place to bed-down. I flipped through my Rolodex of Possible Future Sadness when thinking about where I wanted to photograph The Character.”

The final frames were made at Noah’s home. After nearly a year living out of hotels and a car, Noah purchased his first home in October 2021.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, American homelessness is at a record high. The non-profit attributes the spike to low incomes, a lack of affordable housing, and a weak social safety net. 

Noah is working to create a Thermotaxis allegory for other formerly unhoused people.

”Art can nudge people to consider things they would otherwise wouldn’t,” Noah said. “By expanding Thermotaxis to include other people, I believe we can inspire more empathy for homeless people, advocate for evidence-based housing policy, and – if they are currently experiencing homelessness – help the unhoused realize there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.”

If you’d like to participate in, write about, or help fund this project, please contact: noah@thepeopleofdetroit.com.