Why Are You Surprised I'm Still Here?

"Every person who comes across this book will be affected not only by the poignant photographs, but by the lives of the people that they represent."--Michael Stoops, executive director, National Coalition for the Homeless

Ninety-four color illustrations catalog the cardboard signs of homeless panhandlers, which were gathered over a decade by Los Angeles-based artist Billy Kaufman. With one marker and one piece of cardboard, the creators of these signs work to attract public attention in hope of some spare change that will make the difference of whether or not, in some cases, they eat for the day. While on the street, you can avert your attention from these signs. Now you have a chance to review them up close, transforming details like language and texture into clues that tell previously hidden stories.

Photographs of a wide variety of handmade cardboard signs are accompanied by several short narrative essays written by activists, reporters, cultural anthropologists, and the homeless themselves. The discussion ranges from political implications and social observations to actual accounts of life on the streets and survival tips from squatters. Interspersed with photographs of current urban landscapes, the book becomes an intriguing and original story about the people who are not in it--the "invisible people."

Billy Kaufman was born in Los Angeles in 1971 and "dropped out" of society in 2001 to start an organic farm in Liberty, Tennessee.