Nomad Activist

            A social issue that is often addressed by artists and activists is homelessness. Lucy Orta, an English contemporary visual artist living and working between London and Paris, participated in an interview with C. Ondine Chavoya. This interview was published in ‘The Interventionists.’ Orta was asked which practices/or movements associated with the visual culture of the 1980s was she most engaged by. She replied, “New York City and the cultural multiplicity – East Village, street culture, homelessness, art, fashion, independence, and fear – were all powerful forces on a naïve English fashion student” (31). Orta built The Mobile Intervention Unit (M.I.U.). The M.I.U. is a temporary sleeping quarters for several people. It is a module built onto a light-weight trailer made from composite aluminum parts. Also included in ‘The Interventionists’ is an artwork by Michael Rakowitz. He calls his artpiece paraSITE. It is an inflatable shelter for the homeless. He produced this by attaching plastic bags and tape to air vents on buildings. The warm air expelled from the HVAC system is used to inflate these shelters.

            This social issue is not only addressed by artists in ‘The Interventionists.’ Artists who have made socially engaging work about poverty and homelessness are discussed in the article entitled Art About Poverty and Homelessness. One artist discussed is Andres Serrano, an American photographer who became famous through his photos of corpses. He also has a keen awareness of the homeless people on the streets of New York City. Andres Serrano used the medium of a camera to photograph the homeless in 1990 for a series called Nomads. He traveled the streets and subways with a portable studio and photographed homeless individuals. Serrano did not instruct these individuals on a certain pose to do. Most of them posed in a heroic way. One example of this is an individual by the name of Sir Leonard. Sir Leonard and other individuals seemed to be honored to be in the art making experience. Over a decade later, Serrano took his photographs of the homeless in a different direction. He decided to travel without his signature studio elements, such as the portable photo studio, and instead used his camera. He wanted to focus less on how the image would turn out and more on personal connectivity and interaction. He implemented these new changes in Residents of New York.  “During the photography shoot, participants of Residents of New York mentioned how it is a blessing when someone takes time to interact with them and to acknowledge them as not being invisible” (Art About Poverty and Homelessness).

            Jody Wood is an artist who addresses the homeless in a different way. She made a project called Beauty in Transition. She set up a mobile beauty salon that first originated in 2006 in Kansas. This mobile beauty salon serves for the homeless at shelters around the city. She has also traveled to Denver, Colorado. Through A Blade of Glass, which offers a variety of services including landscape design, installation, and maintenance throughout Boston, she was able to bring her mobile salon city-wide to multiple locations in NYC in 2014. According to Wood, “Through providing human-to-human dialogue beyond institutional constraints, this project aims to facilitate empathetic understanding and to unravel the reductive label of home-less.”  

In 2011, artist Kenji Nakayama began hand-painting signs for Boston’s homeless individuals. He replaced their dull cardboard signs with vibrant pieces of art to help get people to notice them and bring attention to their needs. Nakayama launched the project “Signs for the Homeless.” This project became even larger when Nakayama teamed up with Cambridge resident Christopher Hope. They decided to do more than just remake old signs and take before and after photos. They wanted these individuals’ stories to be heard and needs to have a chance at being met. The pair began to interview the homeless subjects so they can have a chance to tell their life stories. They post the photos and interviews on their blog, with the individuals permission. This has given them a chance to connect with those who can give them needed resources.

Activism through art is very different from political activism outside the art world. Activism through art is a way to use your creative abilities to stand for a cause. People who use activism through art do not need to have a strong speaking voice, as you do in the political world, because their artwork can speak for itself. Political activists often use protests or lectures as a way to raise awareness. When using activism through art you don’t just protest but you have an artwork to show what you’re protesting for. Political activists use legal ways to ensure their desired change. Activism through art can push boundaries and may not always be legal. It is an overall more creative way to make a change. 

Links

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2013/08/07/signs-for-the-homeless-tumblr-kenji-nakayama/

http://moreart.org/art-about-poverty-and-homelessness/

http://jodywoodart.com/work.html