Putting a face on student homelessness, through comics

India Wynne has a stable life. They have bachelor’s and master’s degrees. They own a home. And they have a stable job as an advisor in U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s office.

But Wynne’s life wasn’t always like this.

“I never thought that I’d be here,” Wynne said. “I didn’t think I’d live this long.”

The 46-year-old Marine veteran has gone through a lot of rough patches in their life: sexual abuse and harassment while serving in the military, drug and alcohol abuse, untreated bipolar disorder, cancer and nearly a decade of on-and-off homelessness.

Wynne said during that time a lot of people made snap judgments about them.

“It blows my mind when people look at the houseless community. It’s almost like they assume that we choose to be there,” Wynne said. “There’s a backstory to everyone’s situation and everyone’s pain.”

That’s why Wynne decided to share their story with Portland State University’s new storytelling project, Changing the Narrative.

It details the lived experiences of PSU students who’ve been homeless or experienced housing instability. The stories explore the many ways people fall into homelessness, the stigma they endure, the challenges of pay and their resiliency as they navigate out of their situations.

Their experiences aren’t told through a dense academic research paper. Instead, they’re illustrated through comics.

“Comics and things with a lot of visual representation can be an accessible way for people to engage, a different way for people to engage,” said Kimberléa Ruffu, a research assistant on the project.

She hopes the stories will reach a wider audience and shift the public’s perspective on homelessness.

“Through the COVID-19 pandemic, many folks realized how fragile community members’ situations are when it comes to housing and when it comes to a lack of resources,” Ruffu said. “Something that these stories convey is that [homelessness] can happen to anyone.”

A 2019 survey from PSU’s Homeless Research and Action Collaborative revealed that nearly 45% of students had experienced some kind of housing insecurity, like challenges paying rent or overcrowding. About 16% of students reported experiencing homelessness.

The project, which received funding from the school’s homelessness research center, aimed to center the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQ people and people with disabilities. It paired 10 students with 10 graphic artists who were tasked with bringing their stories to life.

Portland-native Marin Jurgens was one of the artists involved.

“Living in Portland, the issue of homelessness is so apparent,” said Jurgens, who is currently studying graphic design in New York. “I was really intrigued, hearing people’s stories and getting to share those stories.”

She illustrated the story of a student and their child who became homeless after fleeing domestic violence.

Jurgens said she has a new outlook on homelessness after working on this project.

“It just really showed me how there are so many different ways that people can fall into homelessness,” Jurgens said. “And it’s just so important to share their stories to help other people understand too.”

The Changing the Narrative project is a true community collaboration. The series of comics were published this month through a partnership with the Portland-based non-profits Street Roots and Independent Publishing Resource Center. And it’s being distributed locally by Street Roots vendors.

The comics are also getting the gallery treatment. They will be displayed in large format in an exhibit this weekend at the Downstairs Gallery and later this month at the PSU Native American Student and Community Center.

The research team got a huge response from both students and artists who wanted to participate in the project. So they’re now fundraising to be able to publish 10 more comics of student stories.

And now that their story is published, India Wynne says they hope their experience will help change the face of homelessness.

“Every houseless person is just a victory story waiting to be told,” Wynne said. “Humanity’s not an inconvenience, and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”