Photographer Emma O'Brien Focuses on the Triumph of Human Spirit

The photographer knew the scene she’d just witnessed would instantly shatter misconceptions about homeless people. Emma O’Brian was at a soup kitchen in a churchyard in central Johannesburg, when she saw a man in a long queue for food. He was lying on the ground reading Charles Dickens’s famous novel, Great Expectations.

O’Brien said the image spoke volumes about the street people she often comes into contact with in the South African metropolis.

Photographer Emma O'Brien Focuses on the Triumph of Human Spirit