“No More Turning Away,” a photography exhibit documenting homelessness in the Twin Cities, opened Friday at the Kenwood Burroughs Art gallery in downtown Minneapolis.

Photographer David Fallon said he spent months documenting life on the streets around the Twin Cities for the exhibition. Fallon said his experience of being homeless in the past inspired his work and dedication to shining a light on marginalized communities. 

“I could say I’ve been working on no more, turning away for three months, but in reality, I think I’ve been working on it for 30 years, trying to find an answer to a question that I didn’t even know was a question,” he said. 

Fallon hopes visitors will question and reevaluate the way they see homelessness and the homeless. He said that too often, people see homelessness as the consequence of substance abuse or poor decision-making, not as a sign of pre-existing mental health issues.

“The point of ‘No More Turning Away’ and the title is really to challenge people not to turn away, and by capturing these really striking and oftentimes painful images of the stark realities of homelessness,” Fallon said. “You’re really forcing people to engage in something they’re not comfortable engaging in.”

A former advertising agent, Fallon said he took up art full-time around 10 years ago at the suggestion of a therapist who helped him when he was homeless. He took up photography in 2020, inspired by his journalist mother and the chaos that erupted in the Twin Cities following the death of George Floyd. 

Creating positive change through art is Fallon’s biggest inspiration. He said, “No More Turning Away,” and his other series is his way of giving back.

“A lot of the guys that I spent time on the street with didn’t make it out alive. They didn’t make it off the street alive. So this, to me, is as much a responsibility as anything else,” he said. “I have had a lot of opportunity, a lot of talent, a lot of gifts growing up, and nothing’s free, right? This is how I pay my debt to the social contract.” 

Fallon said keeping a positive attitude was difficult after spending months on the streets photographing homelessness because of how dire the conditions he saw were, but he maintains hope that change will come. 

He said he was coming home on the Green Line one night when he saw a group of teenagers bring a presumably stolen shopping cart full of food and water onto the train and give it out to the homeless passengers onboard.

“I’m thinking these three kids took the risk to steal that just to bring it on the train, because they know who’s here and where the people that need help are,” Fallon said. “I’m sitting there on the train with tears just streaming down my face, not making any sound. And I was like, ‘This is as far as we’ve gotten in America.’ It was a hard thing to watch, but it was really reassuring that there are people like that that still exist in this country.”

The exhibition is a fundraiser for People Incorporated, a non-profit mental health services. Fallon will be holding an artist talk at Kenwood Burroughs on May 31 to close the exhibition.