Artist Statement

         This week's activity was an interesting exploration experiment into social issues. Taking it a step further than simply studying the issue, this assignment pushed us to also imagine the life of a character bound within the restrictions of this social issue. In other words, rather than simply examining what this issue was, we had to apply it to everyday living and provide ways to confront and overcome the various difficulties our issues presented. The specific issue I decided to examine was poverty among young adults.

         Although I recognize that mine is a very limited presentation of the depth behind this issue, I tried to adequately touch on several aspects involved in the lifestyle of individuals suffering from homeless a state. Rather than presenting up front any initial reason behind the character's homelessness as an underlying cause, I tried to present a series of collective set backs that would have perpetuated the character's negative situation. Using the information from the sources I collected, I selected several elements common of homeless individuals and tried to weave them into my short narrative game. The main elements I chose to present were mental illness, addiction and lack of family support. While some of these aspects are obvious contributors to being homeless, research also revealed different insights regarding the issue—such as lack of family support arising from children’s sexual orientation, and the large percentage of homeless individuals who claim to be members of the LGBT group. For example, one source quoted almost 40% of homeless claiming to LGBT members, and almost the same amount to be under the age of 18 (dosomething.org). One other news article explained that the national unemployment rate doesn't help their cause, making over qualified people take low level jobs before any homeless person can be accepted (http://www.streetpulsenews.org//‘why-don’t-they-just-get-jobs’).

The last article followed a homeless couple as they struggled to survive selling newspapers for long hours just to get by ((http://www.streetpulsenews.org//day-life-homeless-person). In almost every case, each new storyline ended up with the same outcome, just a different hardship that led the character there. This was to fully present the endless cycle of homelessness, that it often can't be broken by a simple fix.

         In the talk we watched this week Chimamanda mentioned the dangers of single stories. She explained, “to only listen to one negative story is to flatten the experience.” I feel like this applies to the this week's assignment since we often see one side of the issue at hand. Media often presents homeless individuals as lowly characters, in a negative form. Rarely do we ever see homeless protagonists. This project relates to a French film called The Intouchables. This film presented the difficult lifestyle of Driss, a poor man from the projects. The movie studied the rich man's initial negative perception of Driss, and how it changed over time as they got to know each other. Learning more than just the initial “one story” Phillipe gained respect for Driss and accepted him.

        This assignment helped me to personally branch out and consider more than one story. By examining various sources and presenting this story through a different point of view than the common perception, I offered a new insight regarding this specific social issue. 

Sources:
http://www.streetpulsenews.org/?q=articles/2014/02/20/‘why-don’t-they-just-get-jobs’
http://www.streetpulsenews.org/?q=articles/2014/05/17/day-life-homeless-person
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-homeless-teens


Game: http://www.philome.la/ColtonElzey/roberts-life/play