These are our guests.
These are our neighbors.

These are the Faces of Iron Gate
they have a story to share.

For the last 12 years, Iron Gate has given the problem of hunger in Tulsa a face. Through our Faces campaign, we have shown Tulsa that the hungry in our city aren’t just anonymous numbers. They are people. Iron Gate has worked with talented Tulsa photographers to take portraits of our guests, showcasing different guests each time. Many people look beyond the hungry and homeless of Tulsa. The Faces campaign allows these people to be seen in a new light.

Faces of Iron Gate - 2022
photos by Shane bevel

“When I was asked to work on the Faces project, I knew I wanted to do something different from previous iterations. So often we take this issue of food insecurity and put it in a corner on its own. We separate it from our own daily reality because it is simply too painful to realize that so many of our neighbors and friends run the risk of missing their next meal. Inadvertently, we can easily snatch the core of humanity from the issue. We drain the people of their color and warmth.

I wanted the images to tell of the pride and character of the Oklahomans standing before me. Not only is red the color of the gates through which these fellow Tulsans pass each day to nourish their bodies, it is also a color not easily unseen. It sticks with us. It is a color of admonishment, a color always intended to draw our regard. Red importunes us to see the obscured.

I wanted to draw attention to the individualistic nature of the problem, while at the same time using the backdrop of the Tulsa Skyline to drive home the message that the individual is always, by their nature, a part of the sum. Even reduced to its elements, hunger is a communal problem at the crux. We therefore cannot separate it from our lives for indeed we are all but a few unfortunate turns from the same station and its effects touch us all.’    Shane Bevel, Photographer

Faces of Iron Gate - 2021
Photos by Anitra Lavanhar

“It was a great honor to work with the Iron Gate organization and meet some of their clients. I found myself incredibly inspired by their spirits of generosity, gratefulness and positive attitudes especially in the midst of challenging circumstances. I hope that these portraits capture some of their spirits and inspire others to feel a greater connection to those in our community who are often not seen or understood.” -Anitra Lavanhar

Faces of Iron Gate - 2020
Photos by Mike Simon

With masked portraits, this year’s Faces of Iron Gate could just as well be dubbed Faces of the Pandemic. This year’s edition captured by veteran photojournalist, Mike Simons, showcases how hunger can truly affect anyone. From the father who has never had to apply for unemployment let alone visit a food pantry to the woman who believed her life was finally back on track, many of our guests never thought they would have to ask for help. Your support means help is there when its needed.

Faces of Iron Gate - 2019

Photos by Josh New Photography

This year’s Faces of Iron Gate portrait series was captured by local photographer Josh New. He has some history with the project. He helped take some of the first Faces of Iron Gate pictures eight years ago as a graduate student at the University of Tulsa. “It was really my first official project as an artist/photog-rapher,” New said. “The photos I captured were the basis of my portfolio for years and even now some of my favorite portraits I’ve taken.”

“The aim of this project is to capture a photograph of the guest that can communicate their joy, strength, beauty, and hope,” New continued. “The challenge is that in every single guest of Iron Gate these qualities manifest in completely dif-ferent ways. In some, the joy is contagious, but in others it requires coaxing. All of them have strength written on their faces and this often defines their beauty. Most of them have just eaten so that hope is pretty easy to see. But they aren’t used to being looked at, much less examined, so when they step under my lights my job is to promise them that I will find all four of those things and to create a portrait with them, not of them.”

Faces of Iron Gate - 2018

Photos by Adam Murphy

Photographer Adam Murphy captures the happiness, the struggle, and grace that make up the guests of Iron Gate. Through his lens we see the many faces of our guests and the many faces they show the world, from sheer joy to pure stoicism. This is merely a snapshot of their lives and by no means tells their full stories. But it gives you a glimpse into their journeys and reveals a little of what Iron Gate means to those you help us feed every day.

Faces of iron gate - 2017

Photos by Melissa Lukenbaugh

Working with Iron Gate and her beneficiaries is quite an honor. For a small window of time, my neighbor lets me into his/her personal space to make an honest portrait without any of the preparation or curation we've become so accustomed to through Facebook profiles and Instagram feeds. How brave to say "yes" when someone asks to document your world without any editing. What a gift.” “