ACT OF HEALING 2019
Introduction
There is a significant amount of people living on the streets of Los Angeles. Their physical and mental conditions are extremely heartbreaking to see. A great deal of my art work is about capturing the human spirit, trauma, and psychology, therefore the need to address the homeless issue becomes inevitable.
The best way I knew how to confront this issue was to walk up to people and ask them ‘what happened.’ I was aware of trauma-informed-care, where you ask ‘what happened’ as opposed to ‘what is wrong with you.’ I also felt that giving these individuals a chance to speak and be heard would be a therapeutic process for them.
I started doing interviews in early 2018, mainly in downtown Los Angeles and Koreatown, close to where I live. The people I interviewed were people who were regularly on my daily paths either to work or to the grocery store. There were several interviews where the conversations were really hard to decipher. Some did not go anywhere, either the person was demonstrating extreme mental illness or they could not talk. Those moments I completely respected and understood.
The recordings were very impromptu, I had to go home, listen and re-process my experience with each individual by quickly sketching out my mental picture of them. One of the first interviews that made impact on me was Sean’s. Sean was a Yale graduate who worked on Wall Street and after the passing of his mother, everything went downwards for him. After talking to Sean, I was compelled to interview more people because I realized how his situation could happen to anyone.
The Art Work
The first painting I created was for Sean, and in the composition it included an outline of Sean, the spirit of his mother, and of his husband David. (Unfortunately I lost the recording for Sean, but coincidently a reporter for CNN found Sean in September of 2019 and interviewed him as well. His story made headlines). I used gypsum sheets as my surface and as a symbol for the most common material that is used to construct walls and shelter. What I carved out in each piece is what is representative of flesh. Philosopher, Frank Seeburger, states that “trauma is just such a never-to-be-closed wound, one that remains open even after the healing process has come to full fruition.” In the same way, I wanted for there to be a concrete mark, something that is difficult to hide. I chose a color palette that is emblematic of patriotism, as this homeless issue is national crisis from my point of view. The steel frames where each fabricated to create a spacial contour of a simple home.
The Installation
After having the privilege to engage and converse with select homeless individuals, I began to embrace the connection I had with each one of them. I wanted to honor and elevate the significance of their life. The intent was, to not only capture the different stories of how people ended up being homeless, but to also present these narratives in a visually contemplative and spiritual manner. I suspended the paintings by extending the lines from the two dimensional surface to three-dimensional space, taking advantage of the high ceiling and sanctuary like floor plan of the gallery.
The viewer is invited to stand in front of each piece, spaced out like naves in cathedrals, as if each piece was a station (echoing Stations of the Cross). The headphones and mp3 players, also drop from the ceiling, inviting the viewer to make an audio visual connection between the recordings of my engagement with each person I met and the paintings.
There is a significant amount of people living on the streets of Los Angeles. Their physical and mental conditions are extremely heartbreaking to see. A great deal of my art work is about capturing the human spirit, trauma, and psychology, therefore the need to address the homeless issue becomes inevitable.
The best way I knew how to confront this issue was to walk up to people and ask them ‘what happened.’ I was aware of trauma-informed-care, where you ask ‘what happened’ as opposed to ‘what is wrong with you.’ I also felt that giving these individuals a chance to speak and be heard would be a therapeutic process for them.
I started doing interviews in early 2018, mainly in downtown Los Angeles and Koreatown, close to where I live. The people I interviewed were people who were regularly on my daily paths either to work or to the grocery store. There were several interviews where the conversations were really hard to decipher. Some did not go anywhere, either the person was demonstrating extreme mental illness or they could not talk. Those moments I completely respected and understood.
The recordings were very impromptu, I had to go home, listen and re-process my experience with each individual by quickly sketching out my mental picture of them. One of the first interviews that made impact on me was Sean’s. Sean was a Yale graduate who worked on Wall Street and after the passing of his mother, everything went downwards for him. After talking to Sean, I was compelled to interview more people because I realized how his situation could happen to anyone.
The Art Work
The first painting I created was for Sean, and in the composition it included an outline of Sean, the spirit of his mother, and of his husband David. (Unfortunately I lost the recording for Sean, but coincidently a reporter for CNN found Sean in September of 2019 and interviewed him as well. His story made headlines). I used gypsum sheets as my surface and as a symbol for the most common material that is used to construct walls and shelter. What I carved out in each piece is what is representative of flesh. Philosopher, Frank Seeburger, states that “trauma is just such a never-to-be-closed wound, one that remains open even after the healing process has come to full fruition.” In the same way, I wanted for there to be a concrete mark, something that is difficult to hide. I chose a color palette that is emblematic of patriotism, as this homeless issue is national crisis from my point of view. The steel frames where each fabricated to create a spacial contour of a simple home.
The Installation
After having the privilege to engage and converse with select homeless individuals, I began to embrace the connection I had with each one of them. I wanted to honor and elevate the significance of their life. The intent was, to not only capture the different stories of how people ended up being homeless, but to also present these narratives in a visually contemplative and spiritual manner. I suspended the paintings by extending the lines from the two dimensional surface to three-dimensional space, taking advantage of the high ceiling and sanctuary like floor plan of the gallery.
The viewer is invited to stand in front of each piece, spaced out like naves in cathedrals, as if each piece was a station (echoing Stations of the Cross). The headphones and mp3 players, also drop from the ceiling, inviting the viewer to make an audio visual connection between the recordings of my engagement with each person I met and the paintings.
Installation views
Individual Pieces with audio recordings