taking down stories and photos, of course

I met many people, and i of course saw my familiars–for which i was extremely grateful. the guys i have been looking for... some of them were there. and they liked the work so much.

The work received coverage in the Star and Jim spoke brilliantly at the launch.... He is lovely and always a joy to work with.

But I remain uncertain–perhaps it is fatigue. Did people really get the "arts" or did they not? Did they understand what was being conveyed? That there would be nothing really happening those days in Metro Hall without this work? How do we teach society about the arts? This is a crucial juncture as arts funding is being cut all around us. Maybe that is what disappoints me.

Though I talked to many people about this work, about the relationship between disability and health and homelessness–and I know some of them understand. I know some of them are thinking more about the connections.

And so that is what leaves me full of gratitude. The people I spoke with, who heard, the people I listened to, who told me their stories so I could witness their lives and be resolved once again to the necessity of this work.

Remember that. There are people on the streets who need multiple kinds of solutions for housing, who need to be involved in discussing the solutions and the problems. Who are experiencing severe health care problems. Remember that.

setting up - a day in the life and asleep in toronto

set up the exhibit on Monday and it was a long, long day but full of joy. So, you must come down and visit us. More stories of homelessness again told. One person denied access to shelters due to a disability.... Recently hospitalized they were discharged back to the streets with no follow up care. What is health if you are denied full access to it?

What is it to be homeless, underhoused, living perhaps with failing health, with a disability and unable to access adequate healthcare? To hope either for a home or support for the places you yourself choose? What is it for a society to wish for the end of homelessness without including the perspectives of those who live it? These are only some of the questions that I find preoccupying me as I work with people who are living these lives right now. What I have learned is that there is not one solution, one perfect home that can be built. I have learned that some people will always choose the streets for some parts of their lives. I have learned that when people are despairing a small piece of some/any thing given freely can mean solace.
And I have learned there are people on the streets who are visionaries and their visions are being ignored.

These exhibits, a day in the life and asleep in toronto, offer a perspective and try to offer some way of imagining through our inadequate representational and symbolic systems. Bringing these systems together we hope maybe the complexity of homelessness is more readily revealed.