Photos: Shipping-crate museum for Atlanta’s ‘forgotten’ populace bound for downtown

A shipping container that's been converted into a mini-museum is soon to be installed within another, larger museum. (Museum-ception, you might say.)

The Dignity Museum, created and curated by nonprofit Love Beyond Walls, aims to spotlight the often-overlooked plight of people struggling with homelessness.

Next month, the bright red shipping crate will be installed at downtown’s National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

The goal of the Dignity Museum is to “rehumanize” the homeless, according to Love Beyond Walls literature.

“While the homeless population is often forgotten in this city and beyond, this exhibition asks you to take a moment and imagine life from the perspective of someone who is impoverished,” reads a newsletter.

Inside, the container is divided into three rooms, each of which educates visitors about homelessness and its stigmas in a different way.

Room one challenges stereotypes that many homeless people are pinned with, aiming to help visitors understand that anyone can fall on hard times, under the wrong circumstances.

The second room utilizes virtual reality to put people in the shoes of the less fortunate. Patrons can also use a smartphone app to hear the stories of homeless people and see data about the issue.

The last room urges action from visitors, linking them to local nonprofits and other philanthropic or activist channels that contribute to the fight against chronic homelessness.

In the roughly five months since the museum opened its doors at a Southwest Atlanta parking lot, more than 2,500 visitors have gone through the experience.

Once Love Beyond Walls sets up at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, though, that number is expected to spike, shedding a brighter light on an issue ignored by many.