Photographs of homeless people often paint a familiar, gritty picture, but these portraits by Rosie Holtom break that mould. An animator by day, Holtom has volunteered at Shelter from the Storm, a night shelter in north London, for four years and photographs the residents to challenge preconceptions of homelessness. "There is a huge disconnect between the interesting people at the shelter and the 'misery' photography I constantly see depicting homelessness," she explains. "It's time more positive imagery mobilised people to help." Certainly, in asking the subjects in her photos to pose and dress "exactly as they would want to be seen," it emphasises that homelessness could happen to any of us. "People assume all homeless people are drunks or addicts but the reality is very different," says Holtom, and residents' stories of being kicked out by unscrupulous landlords illustrate this point



On display at Downstairs at Mother, 10 Redchurch St, London E2, until 3 December