This year is a really big deal for me.. its my Senior year. So after changing my thesis a couple times I landed on to what my teacher says is a "solid topic.." I am interpreting the way society makes homeless people invisible. I have always been drawn to homeless people, maybe it was their mystery or my sympathy, but I felt it was a topic that I wanted to shake.
So I started taking pictures of Streetvibes distributors in Cincinnati. Its a newspaper that is sold by people who have or currently are homeless. I have talked and listened to some of the distributors. Others are more eager to share some of their stories, but all of them are very interesting to me.
I do need to say that I am not trying to save the world, I just was to help bring awareness of how society often shuts these people out and makes them invisible. I am also not saying that I am a saint because I have tried to ignore the problem as well. Here is my progress of first homeless awareness painting...
My starting point.. wooden panel 4' x 4' with black acrylic paint scraped on
Continuing my dripping paintings with new technique of scraping
James Brown, my first Streetvibes distributor, done in oil paint
Closer view of James Brown
Close up of my second Streetvibes distributor, Raeshawn Gibson
The last Streetvibes distributor on this panel, Ronnie Phillips. This is also my completed (for now) painting. I am going to add more layers to make these men more invisible.
