Five Minutes With James Noakes, Designer Of From The Ground Up

Tell us about the concept behind the From The Ground Up book and exhibition.

It’s a project to help homeless individuals in the little way we can, and to raise much-needed funding for Youth Off The Streets. Our aim is to assist in preventing homelessness from happening to our younger generations. Over the past few months I spent time on Sydney’s streets with photographer Rob Domjen, aiming to capture what life is like for people with nowhere to call home. We took sturdy duffle bags filled with warm clothing and basic necessities, and gave them to the individuals we met along the way. We also paid them in return for their story and time, and provided a food hamper as well. The imagery taken and small stories documented were then compiled into a hardcover book. Imagery was also printed as artwork to be displayed at the official exhibition on August 28. Mere is donating $5 to Youth Off The Streets from every pair of shoes or bag sold from the spring/summer collection, as well as proceeds from sales at the art exhibition.

Were there any particularly moving moments you had with your subjects along the way?

Woolloomooloowas a fair eye-opener. There were so many individuals affected by the situation, it was really sad to see. A particular subject was Irish, a Vietnam vet, but seeing the set-up he had created was cool. He was a really interesting guy with a great backstory. Another good moment was chatting to the guys up in Manly who were funny and lighthearted about their situations. There’s a lot of good humour on the streets. In summary, each person was so different with diverse and interesting stories. The whole thing was a great personal experience.

The images are in black and white – did you make that decision specifically for this project?

I like that black-and-white photography is dramatic and wanted to portray the sheer honesty of the situation without the impact of colour.