The Hard but Good Times
Emoore cooks on his first meal of the day on a backpack stove in the middle of a field while his dog, Savannah keeps watch at Palmer Park in Detroit, Mich. on Oct. 11, 2021.
It was the opening night of an art show at Hatch Gallery in Hamtramck, Michigan. This is where a man approached me and struck up a conversation about the paintings and just art in general. As the night progressed and we continued to chat, this man named Emoore’s life started to unravel.
Emoore happens to live in his van with his dog, Savannah. He and his dog are nomadic with no other true home base other than a 2006 Honda Odyssey. Emoore isn’t a van-lifer, he describes himself as a hobo and a traveler.
Emoore preforms one of the song “my childhood friends are addicted to cocaine” from his album “Pitbull Eyes” in the back of his van at Palmer Park in Detroit, Mich. on Oct. 11, 2021.
Emoore has lived as a traveler for the last 15 years or so. “When I was probably to young, I would take the greyhound bus to New York {city} and just walk around and watch the night life” he tells me as we walk to a gas station. Emoore grew up in Rochester, New York with his parents and siblings, where he had what he calls a pretty normal childhood. “One night I was on the bus and there was this hobo who was talking to me and just really rambling about the freedom his life has, and that’s when I made up my mind to buy a bus ticket out to California to see a friend and just never went back".”
Emoore’s stash of personal hygiene products in his van at Palmer Park in Detroit, Mich. on Oct. 11, 2021.
“Right now, I’m focusing on learning oil painting”. Emoore has found a studio space at Hatch Gallery in Hamtramck, Michigan. “I’m working on painting these two football players from the Buffalo Bills” he says as he works from a magazine cover.
Emoore works on his painting of the Buffalo Bills football platers in his studio at Hatch Gallery in Hamtramck Mich. on Oct 11, 2021.
Emoore reads a book on the floor of his studio at Hatch Gallery in Hamtramck Mich. on the afternoon of Oct 11, 2021.
Emoore is a musician as well, he plays guitar and sings. “How I make most of my money is busking and playing shows and the little bit I get off the sales of my music online” he says. “This isn’t the life I thought I would live; living out of a backpack and hopping trains, but I’m happy, not overly happy or ecstatic but I don’t hate my life.”
Emoore and Savannah share a moment at the end of their day at Hatch Gallery in Hamtramck Mich. on Oct 15, 2021.
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