---
title: being seen — SULAI LOPEZ
url: https://sulailopez.com/being-seen
description: Being seen: oil pastel portraits by Sulai Lopez of young people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
---

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[SULAI LOPEZ](https://sulailopez.com/)

[SHOP](https://sulailopez.com/sulaishop)

[WORKSHOPS](https://sulailopez.com/workshops)

[INSTALLATION](https://sulailopez.com/installation)

[ABOUT](https://sulailopez.com/sulailopez)

[CONTACT](https://sulailopez.com/contactsulai)

# being seen

My Friend’s Place in a non profit resource center serving youth experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles California. I was fortunate to be part of this very special community for a decade as a volunteer teaching artist. This series of portraits was done over a year, visiting MFP once a week and sitting with a young person from the community, paying them for two hours of their time to model for me. There is an intimacy that comes with portrait work, opportunities for conversation and silence and two way staring contest. At the end of each session, I asked each participant the question, “Where are you going tonight?'“ and documented the answer on the drawing.

[SULAI LOPEZ](https://sulailopez.com/)

[SHOP](https://sulailopez.com/sulaishop)

[WORKSHOPS](https://sulailopez.com/workshops)

[INSTALLATION](https://sulailopez.com/installation)

[ABOUT](https://sulailopez.com/sulailopez)

[CONTACT](https://sulailopez.com/contactsulai)

[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/sulaiazul/)

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