homelessness

11 Things: Homelessness

Thursday, February 19, 2009

"Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness From the New Deal to the Present" opens today at the California Historical Society. We asked several of the exhibition collaborators to share 11 thoughts on the subject of homelessness. The following were kind enough to participate: Paul Boden, executive director, Western Regional Advocacy Project; David Crosson, executive director, California Historical Society; Art Hazelwood, exhibition curator and contributing artist; and Adrienne McGraw, executive director, California Exhibition Resources Alliance.

1. Humanity: "Economic parallels between the Great Depression and today are seen everywhere, but in this exhibition, the human experience is portrayed." (A.M.)

2. Adversity: "Once they were called hobos and tramps, now they are called street people and homeless. The treatment of the homeless in the arts reflects how society has thought of its poorest members. You can see this in the 'noble' portrayals by WPA artists of the 1930s and in contrast how the artists of the 1980s tended to portray the homeless as degenerates unworthy of the government's interest. Contemporary California artists, however are witnessing, documenting and commenting on today's poverty in ways more akin to the artists of the Depression era. This is what this exhibition is about - where we are now, and where we were then." (A.M.)

3. Tranquility: "Shelter is one of the most fundamental of all human needs and often commands very powerful reactions. This exhibition explores artists' reactions to the issue, from the 1930s to the present." (A.M.)

4. Diversity: "A wide range of artists' approaches to expressing their message is explored. From street posters to radical magazines, from graphic novels to WPA print shops and murals, the exhibition features a wide variety of cultural viewpoints, historical perspectives and positions, from photos by Dorothea Lange to artwork pulled from today's various homeless publications." (A.H.)

5. Equality: "The art in this exhibition is a reminder that despite economic hard times, in the past we were able to reach into our better natures and create a more just and egalitarian society." (A.H.)

6. Ingenuity: "Homeless people have been known to build more than just huts out of cardboard boxes, as demonstrated by the celebrated building projects of the New Deal." (P.B.)

7. Morality: "This exhibition will raise difficult questions with political and moral overtones concerning how society has viewed homelessness and what the government's role has been and should be. The complementary programs and lectures will be provocative and controversial." (A.H.)

8. Poverty: "Now, 75 years after the New Deal responded to the devastating impact of the Great Depression by creating powerful programs to assist those in poverty, people are looking to the new administration and asking, 'Will there be a new New Deal?' " (A.M.)

9. Integrity: "The artwork in the exhibition will make you think about how art can create change and how it may change you. It will prove once and for all that history is not about the past, but about who we are today and what kind of future we aspire to create." (D.C.)

10. Affordability: "The admission fee for this exhibition has been waived to make the exhibition accessible to everyone, regardless of the ability to pay, because the more we learn, the closer we get to a solution." (P.B.)

11. Community: "Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness From the New Deal toThe Present" runs through Aug. 15. Noon-4:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Free. California Historical Society, 678 Mission St. (415) 357-1848. www.californiahistoricalsociety.org.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/19/NSGJ15TTLA.DTL

This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle