Photos on display in the 3rd Floor Hearing Room and adjacent hallway of the downtown Boulder County Courthouse through February

Boulder County, Colo. - The stories of Boulder County’s prosperous communities are well told. Often missing are the stories of the less fortunate, people struggling with poverty, the unseen members of the community.

The Sonder Collection photo exhibit, featuring (In)visible Boulder County, intends to change that. Created by One Thousand Design in partnership with the Boulder County Community Services Department, and sponsored by the Boulder County Commissioners and other community partners, the project is designed to start a conversation around the county’s often marginalized and underserved populations.

• What: The Sonder Collection photo exhibit, featuring (In)visible Boulder County
• Where: The Boulder County Courthouse, 3rd Floor, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder
• Dates: Now through Feb. 28.
• Time: The Courthouse is open to the public 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday on non-holidays
• Note: While the images in the hallway may be viewed any time the Courthouse is open, please choose a time when meetings are not in session to view the pictures in the Hearing Room.

“Art, be it film, theater, or in this case - photography - is a non-threatening, productive way to begin a conversation about a difficult subject,” says Deb Gardner, Boulder County Commissioner. “That is why we are pleased to be able to share this glimpse into the lives of the people we serve, the most vulnerable in our community, to give everyone that sees them the opportunity to join in the conversation.”

(In)visible Boulder County is a multi-media conversation produced in conjunction with a number of Boulder County programs and local nonprofit agencies. This gallery shows photographs and quotes from the homeless, immigrant, transgender, working poor, and youth-in-crisis communities that were taken as part of the project. Here are just a few examples:

"Prior to divorce I was a PTA mom running my own little business, wife of an attorney - so upper middle class. And then you end up in situational poverty.One split second and life changed."

"You can't write homeless on an ID. And that makes it really difficult. Without an ID you can't do anything."

"The decisions people have to make when they're in poverty make sense because they are moment to moment decisions to deal with moment to moment problems. There's no way to really understand what it's like unless you are living it."

“I wanted to teach my daughter that you don’t have to be scared. That you can ask people for help”

“The Sonder Collection leverages individual stories to start a conversation about stigma, stereotype, and disparity in communities around the country,” says Kassia Binkowski , creative director at One Thousand Design. Over the course of the past year we collaborated with Boulder County and local nonprofit agencies to collect these stories from many of the populations in crisis here in our home town. We are thrilled to have this collection on display at the Boulder County Court House.”

Participants include the Boulder County Circles Campaign, Boulder County Head Start, Attention Homes, Emergency Family Assistance Association, Intercambio, Sister Carmen, and Out Boulder County. This is the second in a series of showings that will take place in Boulder County and beyond in 2017. The photos will next be exhibited at the Dona Laurita Gallery in Louisville in March. A powerful video companion piece will also debut this year.