Book by local photographer depicts life on the streets

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

Jordan Williams, 1, and Markeyda Williams, 23. As Jordan stares into the courtyard, dreaming about playing with dump trucks and sliding down the slide, his 23-year-old mom, Markeyda, worries about how to provide for him. After a month of being homeless, Markeyda moved into The Shade Tree Shelter in hopes of starting a new life for them. Staring across the room, she sits silent, shaking her head, as she thinks about her life before moving into the shelter. “I’d like to get a job in a casino,” she says, as Jordan innocently runs around the kids’ playroom. “You can make good money as a cocktail waitress.”

By Tiffany Gibson (contact)

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

Photojournalist Mona Shield Payne will debut her photography exhibition and book Las Vegas Faces of the Street at the Art In The Shade fundraiser hosted by The Shade Tree Nov. 12th, 6:30 - 10:00 p.m., at Wellington Place, 6985 W. Sahara Ave., Ste. 102, Las Vegas.

A local photographer will exhibit a book detailing the lives of homeless people in the Las Vegas Valley at an event to raise money for The Shade Tree shelter.

Art in the Shade, featuring the photography of Mona Shield Payne, who also does freelance work for the Sun, will be from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday at Wellington Place, 6985 West Sahara Ave.

Payne spent six weeks with more than 50 homeless families and individuals for her book, “Las Vegas Faces of the Street.”

“I would spend 30 minutes to an hour with them because they all have their own stories,” Payne said. “I don’t think anyone has got to the nitty-gritty of homeless people like I have.”

The project started when Payne came across a homeless woman near the Clark County Justice Center. Her name was Diane Fraser and she became the inspiration for the project, Payne said.

Some of the other faces included in Payne’s book are pregnant women, construction workers and musicians.

Earl Lee, 57, has been homeless for 18 months. He collects aluminum cans near bus stations around downtown Las Vegas for money and dreams of becoming a musician.

“I get paid 85 cents a pound,” said Lee, who used to do maintenance work.

Rachael Saito, 34, said she’s homeless because her lack of education has prevented her from keeping up with the competitive job market. She said she’s been in and out of shelters for years.

Gina Mauro, 35, is also homeless.

She has a 1-year-old daughter, Deja Tatum, and was a North Las Vegas police officer before she was injured.

“Then I was a bailiff for the courts, but my certification expired,” Mauro said. “It costs money to get recertified, and I didn’t have the money to go through the academy.”

Mauro is now living at The Shade Tree, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless women and children get back on their feet.

Executive Director Marlene Richter said Payne visited shelter to take some photographs of the families and pets. The Shade Tree was the first shelter in the U.S. to have an animal shelter for homeless families with pets, Richter said.

She said she was very pleased with the outcome of the book.

“I think this is an amazing opportunity for people to experience a face-to-face encounter with people living on the streets and the stories behind the faces,” Richter said.

Richter said she made it through eight pages of the book before she began crying. Because she was so moved by the book, Richter said, she offered Payne an opportunity to showcase her work in during Art in the Shade.

Tickets to the event are $50 per person and can be purchased prior to the event through The Shade Tree shelter’s Web site. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.

Payne will be selling her books for $200 each, with all of the profits going to The Shade Tree. She will also take orders for individual prints.