PHOTOS: This Photographer Captures Little Havana’s Unwanted Couches
Photo by Sharif Salem
Maybe it’s because I’m used to my mom trying to rescue pieces of furniture that have been thrown away, but seeing a discarded couch on the streets of Miami was never a big deal to me. For Sharif Salem, a Londoner who moved to Miami, seeing couches on Little Havana curbs was something that filled him with questions. “It was just odd to see them,” he told the Miami New Times. “It made me think, ‘why would people be throwing out huge pieces of furniture like that? It is because of the economy?…Are people getting thrown out of their homes?’ It was a question mark.” It was enough to get him to start photographing the couches and posting them on his Instagram.
It snowballed from there. Now, he has a Facebook page and website, where he shows off the pics, and many people send him pictures of abandoned couches around the world. He’s also shown his work at a Wynwood gallery.
Check out some of his images below:
Cover photo by Sharif Salem