Morton received an undergraduate degree in art from Kent State University and completed graduate studies at Yale University. Studies in photography paved the way for the homeless work, while her concentration in design informs her organization and structure of the project's voluminous material. Morton's embrace of photography as a tool for social awareness and change relates to the tradition of photographer-reformers like Lewis Hine and Jacob Riis, whose unflinching photographs of sweatshops and slums led to labor and housing reforms early in this century. Like them, she seeks to position her work in the public eye and in sociopolitical discourse and has exhibited, lectured and published widely. Since homelessness is not tied to geography, Morton's work has graced exhibitions and seminar agendas around the globe.

Morton is an Associate Professor of Art at Cooper Union and has taught at Yale and SUNY Purchase. Her work has been reviewed and published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The London Times and Die Zeit, in addition to numerous arts publications, including Aperture and Artforum. Two books have been published from her ongoing project, "The Architecture of Despair": Transitory Gardens, Uprooted Lives and The Tunnel: The Underground Homeless of New York City. Morton has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Graham Foundation, among others.

Ultimately, Morton's stringently unsentimental photographs and texts lay bare common denominators regarding physical need and spiritual longing. They also reveal the dignity inherent in human perseverance.