INVISIBLE PEOPLE

Seeing What We Often Overlook

Homelessness is a word you hear often, but rarely truly see. You pass someone on the street, you hear a story on the news, you read a statistic. But who are the people behind those numbers? Which eyes, which hands, which worn-out shoes, which stories exist in that single moment you walk by?

Photographer Huub van Boxel refused to let that question fade. He picked up his camera, boarded trains, and spent twelve months traveling through ten European cities. From London to Paris, from Berlin to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Frankfurt and beyond. Everywhere he went, he met people living on the streets. Not as a researcher or a social worker, but simply as a human being who looks and tries to understand.

His new exhibition Invisible People, now on view at Natlab, shows what happens when you choose not to look away.

A Photographer Who Looks Back Instead of Looking Away
Huub van Boxel (born 1968) describes his cameras as “the eyes through which I let others see.” His work is not about perfection or aesthetics, but about empathy, attention, and the courage to see what can feel uncomfortable.

He describes his project as both a social and a human exploration: “With this project I want to make one question visible: why is there not a home for every person?”

It is not a search for grand narratives, but for ordinary encounters. Small fragments of reality, exactly as you might see them while walking through a city. Huub sees his cameras simply as the eyes of an ordinary passer-by.

“I spoke with homeless people, had coffee or a bowl of soup with them, and occasionally took photos. Everyday street scenes that anyone visiting a city might come across.”

Ten Cities, Countless Encounters
Huub’s route took him through London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Rome, Düsseldorf, Bordeaux, Rotterdam and Frankfurt. Ten cities, each with their own answers and their own silences.

Everywhere he went, he saw different faces of homelessness: the presence of addiction in Berlin, the bureaucratic obstacles in Paris, the loneliness in Frankfurt, the invisibility in Rome. But also kindness. Warmth. Humor. Humanity.

“I saw deep sadness, despair, but also friendliness, warmth and joy. What I saw was, in fact, a normal human image.” Those words sit at the heart of the project. Because Invisible People is not about pity or urban decay. It is about human presence. About someone meeting your gaze. About all of us.

An Invitation to Look
Looking seems simple, but it isn’t. We grow accustomed to looking away, to keeping our distance, to the idea that certain people are not part of our everyday world. Huub interrupted that habit. He stood still. He listened. And only then did he take a photograph.

With this series, he invites us to do the same.
Not to judge. Not to assume. Simply to look.
To be present, even briefly, in someone’s life, even if you do not know it.

What makes the images remarkable is that they never become bleak. They are raw, sometimes confrontational, but never without humanity. The photographs open up space to look without turning away.

From Image to Meaning
All proceeds from the works go directly to the Dental Care for Homeless People Foundation, an organization that provides dental care to people experiencing homelessness. Through this, Huub connects his photography to tangible, direct support.

Care that is obvious for many is often out of reach for those living on the streets. Each sold photograph helps ease pain, shame and exclusion.