I have chosen the topic of homelessness for my project because I know it's something that most people till this day still feel somewhat uncomfortable speaking about. There are numerous artists who address the issue of homelessness. One of my favorite artists who addresses homelessness through art is an Australian artist named Meek. Meek's project “Begging for Change” 2004 is a painted picture on a street wall of a homeless man holding up a sign reading “Keep your change, I want change” He stenciled this powerful image on a wall and while technically illegal, it has an important message. Giving a homeless person some spare change can help them in the short term by providing some food, or even cause harm if the person buys drugs with the money. The artist’s point is that fundamental political and social change is necessary to solve this problem. This art piece shows activism because its opening our eyes that what we are doing isn't enough. This piece is meant to make us want to do more than just give money it should make us want to create change.
Another artist that addresses homelessness is
John D’oh who painted on a city wall a maid sweeping under a rug with a large caption on top that reads “You Can't Hide Homelessness”. This art piece is expressing no matter how much society and the community try to act like homelessness isn't a thing and try to make a city look better through gentrification the problem of homelessness will always exist. After learning that I wanted to focus on homelessness for my project I began to observe from a distance how my community interacted with their local homelessness people. The results were devastating but not at all shocking. Most people walking would try not to speak or even make any eye contact with the homeless people they saw on the streets. In the reality of these people mind homeless people don’t exist, they don’t mean anything, and they have no one to blame for their life choices that landed them being homeless but themselves. Most people think that all homeless people are either drug addicts, alcoholics, murderers, or just in general evil people who deserve to be homeless. The truth is people can end up homeless for many reasons that any of us can face.
Finally, Another artist who has motivated me to focus my project on homelessness is street artist Michael Aaron Williams who purposely puts up his homeless street people in places where others will find them. He doesn’t glue them up, rather, he simply tapes them to the walls in places that are most of the time very populated so that anyone who passes by might want to stop, take them off the wall, and bring them home. And if no one does? “They will cease to exist,” Williams says. “They will be destroyed and blown away in the wind or other forces that will rip them down and throw them away.” “Ultimately, it’s up to the viewer to decide on the fate of these characters; whether they’ll end up discarded, trampled on, and thrown away or lovingly taken home.” In conclusion, my project will show that it is in fact possible to get to know someone who is homeless and prove that they are people like you and me who maybe only made a mistake that led them to have to live the way that they do.
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