Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Ritter Center House -Spoken Words

I am starting to scratch some of the sentences that I have pulled from peoples experiences of being homeless into the walls and roof of my house. So many homeless people talk about how hard it is not having anyone who knows or cares about them. This desire to be connected to people seems almost like a requirement of being human. That without other people in you life it is barely possible to exist. Like food or water. One thing I never thought about is that once you are on the streets there is a kind of loose community of people who are already there. Those people who, for whatever reason, haven't been able to hang on to their homes, jobs, whatever.... What is incredibly moving to me is that these people tend to support each other. They all know that they each represent possibly the last chance of anyone showing up for one another. This one woman writes about this community and what it means to her: "They care about me and miss me if I don't turn up and that makes me feel really special, well at least to someone." I am using a sharp needle like tool to scratch through the paint to form these sentences. Like the dark lines going around the house these words will spiral up around the sides of the house. I still haven't figured out how to carve the figure at the top.

carving letters

house progress


6 comments:

Leslie Avon Miller said...

With the extreme cold weather, I have been thinking of the homeless and hoping they will seek temporary shelter.
Your project is speaking volumes.

Unknown said...

Your house has so much more impact with the words scratched onto it.

Anonymous said...

I just stumbled on your blog by following links here and there. I need to have a much better read and look round, but I wanted to say straight away that - your header artwork is great, and the house is incredible. Love the scratched words, and the story behind them.

Willie Baronet said...

Love this! I've been working on homeless related stuff as well and thought you might be interested:

http://weareallhomeless.blogspot.com/

Nicholas Wilton said...

Thanks for everyone's comments...I have noticed that when people come into the studio they tend to look and then read the words. I don't often put words in my artwork but it certainly is powerful. Rrramone, your project on homelessness is incredible. Everyone go see it! http://weareallhomeless.blogspot.com/

ArtPropelled said...

A whole Nicholas Wilton house ......This is going to be phenomenal!