How do you think recent media representations influence contemporary artists and their representations of homeless populations?
ART: Well you know if you were to google homeless images, almost 95% of those images would be extremely pathetic pictures. Most representations of homelessness come from either a point of view of pity, or a point of view of “these people are leaving their needles and feces around my neighborhood.” I think the vilification by the press, particularly in San Francisco, has been extremely strong. There was a brief burst of “gosh this is just like the Depression and maybe there are some homeless people who have lost their homes and we should search for them.” But that was a very quick flurry that seems to have died down after the Sacramento camp was closed. The camp in Sacramento got national attention for a few weeks but then [California] Gov. Schwarzenegger closed the camp down, and that was the end of it.
