(upbeat music) - There's a new photography exhibit on display at the Salt Lake Main Library called "In Their Words."

A project of Amplify Utah, the powerful exhibition tells the stories of the unhoused in their words.

Photographer Stephen Speckman is here to tell us more.

Hi, Steven.

Thanks for being here.

- Thanks for having us.

- So it sounds really moving, this exhibit.

It's 17 portraits?

- Yes.

It is moving.

You get to learn about them.

There's some excerpts from the larger stories that live online at Amplify Utah, if you're on social media.

You can go to amplifyutah.org as well.

But you get to know these folks a little bit, and we're finding that the exhibit, larger than life photos with these quotes, help sort of humanize them a little bit more and demystify these folks that sometimes a lot of us just pass right by without even thinking about.

- Right, right, and I know it's a project of Amplify Utah.

- Correct.

- Talk about Amplify Utah.

- Amplify Utah is amazing.

They've been around since, I think, 2020.

Marcie Young Cancio is the founder and executive director.

She's also a professor here at the University of Utah, teaches journalism.

She started it with the hopes of supporting students as they develop portfolios and in collaboration with local media, mostly the "Salt Lake Tribune."

She's been able to help get their stories published, stories that maybe might get missed by some of the mainstream media, you know, like women's sports for example, or maybe some stories that come from the LGBTQ community, stuff like that, yeah.

- Oh, it's great, it's great.

And you call it ethical storytelling.

- This project was guided in part by a University of Utah student, a grad student, Olivia Webster.

She came up with some sort of guide rails for us to make sure that we did this in a way that isn't exploitative.

- Ah, great, great.

Well, thank you so much for telling the story.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- And if you'd like to know more about the project, Amplify Utah "In Their Words" Exhibition, it's at the Salt Lake City Library through July 18th.

Go to amplifyutah.org.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact."

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Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

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