ADORA
For eight years, homeless Adora Thayer (1961) wandered the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, looking for shelter and food. Her days were monotonous, heavy and gloomy. 'I don't remember much of what I did all day. I did everything routinely,” she will say later.
In 2011, she caught the attention of Dutch artist-photographer Jan Banning and became a striking personality in his renowned 2013 photo book Down and Out in The South. Banning portrayed homeless people in the southern US, focusing on the individual and not on their sad socio-economic circumstances: on 'who' they are, not 'what'.
Adora's portrait was purchased by art collector Marius Touwen. Ten years later he asks the artist to make a new portrait of her. After an arduous search, mainly on the internet, Banning finds her in a modest house in Orange City (Iowa), a strictly religious enclave of Reformed Dutch people who moved to this fly-over state in the 19th century.
Adora's situation has changed radically. Her friendly face is in stark contrast to the look Banning captured in 2011. When confronted with the portrait from 2011, Adora sees sadness. “My expression is dead. There is no life left in it. I see sadness and emptiness. I was mentally exhausted at the time and this photo shows that.'
However, Banning also sees a powerful person in the photo. Adora agrees. 'I had to act independently all my life. Due to domestic violence, I often stayed in my room. There I thought deeply about things and that gives me an inner strength, I think. That's probably also the reason I don't use drugs," she says.