ARTS AGENDA . Arts Agenda Picks

On The DL

Rebirth: The Reality of Homelessness


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Aug 12, 2008

Fri., Aug. 15, 7-9 p.m., free, F.U.E.L. Collection, 249 Arch St., 215-592-8400, myspace.com/homelessarts

This past January, artists Lucy Edwards and Adaobi Kanu struck up a conversation with a homeless man who told them about his love for drawing and experiences panhandling. He said he wished he could make people understand why he didn't want to stay in a shelter. "So we had this idea," says Edwards. "What if he could draw and write out his experiences and sell them to people who asked why he didn't go to a shelter — instead of asking for money? He could change himself from a charity case into an entrepreneur."

So began the Homeless Arts Project, an eight-week program of art classes for homeless men, sponsored through the Davis Foundation's "100 Projects for Peace." Edwards and Kanu set up shop at a Center City shelter, with Edwards teaching visual arts, Kanu on dance and SITY (a poet from the rap group 3XL) on creative writing. From those eight weeks came "Rebirth," an interactive exhibit that reflects on homelessness through visual art and performance. In addition to presenting their poetry, dance, sculpture and drawings (including Kevin Purnell's I Remember, pictured), the artists will conduct interviews with attendees, which will be used for an upcoming radio documentary on the project.

Click Here For More Images

The sale of books and artwork made by homeless artists will be used to fund both the artists and the Homeless Arts Project. Edwards hopes that this will be the beginning of a sustainable project for uplift: "We see art as a tool to give someone life skills that are essential to helping oneself — like listening to oneself, becoming confident in using one's imagination and then carrying that vision through. Art is really a metaphor for life."