Fayetteville, Arkansas, March 1-31, 2010.
The Homeless Project, a public art project created by artist and University of Arkansas Assistant Professor Bethany Springer, will be on display at four locations on the downtown Fayetteville square from March 1st – 31st, 2010. This public video and sound exhibition presents testimonies from a sampling of the homeless population currently residing in local shelters, makeshift camps, and transitional living facilities in Northwest Arkansas. The video project may be seen and heard outside the following participating venues and locations during the month of March: Fayetteville Visitors Bureau (21 S. Block Avenue), Opal Flyʼs Feel Good Lounge (40 E. Center St.), U.S. Center for World Mission (26 W. Center St.) and East Square Plaza (1 E. Center St.).
Funding for this public art exhibition is provided through the 2009 Community Research Award sponsored by the Jones Chair in Sociology and Family and Community Institute at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Special thanks to Dr. Kevin Fitzpatrick, the Family and Community Institute at the University of Arkansas, Kimberly Gross, Poppi Price, Betsy Gross of Seven Hills, Don Montgomery of the Salvation Army Fayetteville, Stacey Overfelt of Havenwood, Malen Gardner of Youthbridge, Randy Thomas of Sound Warehouse, Heather Kendrick-Gerlaugh and Lee Ann Kendrick of The Lighter Side of Dickson, Rowland McKinney of the 540 Film Fest, Dede Peters of ddp gallery, Foxfire and the gang at Opal Flyʼs Feel Good Lounge, John Sewall of the U.S. Center for World Mission, Julie Pennington and Brian Bailey of the Visitors Bureau, and especially to the resilient men and women who shared their stories to make this project possible.
The Homeless Project: Quality of Life in Northwest Arkansas
“Booming prosperity accompanying a tremendous increase in the area’s population has made Northwest Arkansas a nationally recognized economic success… A thriving housing market, booming business development and retail growing faster than nearly imaginable, the once quiet area has been a sea of construction sites for the past several years. And the results are some of the nicest neighborhoods and shopping venues anywhere.” – Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. March 13, 2007
“It’s estimated that on any given night almost 1200 people are homeless in Washington and Benton counties… Not everyone is enjoying the prosperity of Northwest Arkansas.” - “Quality of Life in Northwest Arkansas,” KNWA. October 29, 2008
In August 2007, I began interviews with a sampling of the homeless population currently residing in local shelters, makeshift campsites, and transitional housing in Northwest Arkansas. With consent of the interviewees, the testimonies have been recorded in their current place of residence using high quality audio and video equipment. To date, twenty-seven testimonies have been collected. Each interview has been edited down to a three-minute video portrait. Each portrait will be accompanied by audio testimony which offers a glimpse into each interviewee’s private life. These testimonies reveal memories and personal meanings associated with the term “home.” On a more obscure level, the testimonies also offer insight into the fundamental human need for security (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) and psychological consequences experienced as a result of displacement.
These video testimonies will be presented as a touring public art project, entitled The Homeless Project, beginning in early 2010. As the project originates in Northwest Arkansas and most of the interviews were recorded in Fayetteville, The Homeless Project will be on view at four different locations on the downtown Fayetteville square from March 1-31, 2010. Four 40” LCD flat screen televisions will be mounted on the interior of four different storefront sites in downtown Fayetteville and face out towards the street through large windows. High-quality and weatherproof speakers, mounted on the exterior of the buildings, will allow viewers to experience the voices of the interviewees at street level. The project will begin touring regionally in 2010.
The Homeless Project examines how territory changes over time, and more specifically addresses how one’s sense of place, security, and ownership is established and lost. The purpose of this research is to raise social awareness of the issue of displacement and to encourage an understanding of the commonalities that link the sheltered and unsheltered by giving a public visual and aural presence to persons whose identities are less evident.
Benton and Washington counties experience double-digit growth rates each year, yet from 1990 to 2006, the percentage of owner-occupied housing declined in Northwest Arkansas (1). In a recent 125-page survey conducted by the University of Arkansas Community and Family Institute, the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation, and the United Way of Northwest Arkansas, it was estimated that on any given night almost 1,287 people are homeless in Washington and Benton counties.
As the landscape of Northwest Arkansas continues to develop, it is important to address the needs of all community members, especially those whose presence is less visible. I believe that these conversations, presented in public space, will encourage open dialogues to address the necessity for stable and affordable housing amid extensive growth in Northwest Arkansas. This project also examines how development is affecting individuals within the community and transforming regional identity as a whole.
Artist’s Biography and Statement Bethany Springer
Since moving from New York City to the Midwest in 2004, I have been particularly interested in the idea of progress (western expansion) in the form of technological advances in communication, globalization, and product development. In my research, I attempt to examine how these larger phenomena affect regional identity and subsequently impact individual experience.
How place is established, reinforced, and lost is a concept represented in my work through metaphors of biology, territory, communication, and security. In a broader context, the work also explores escapism as an effective means of protection. Ultimately, I see my sculpture and video work as situational experiments that monitor awareness in a constantly accelerating world.
Bethany Springer (b. 1975 Washington, D.C.) received her MFA in Sculpture from the University of Georgia, Athens and BA from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. She has been a Visual Arts Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA and a resident at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE. The recipient of several awards, Bethany has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Arkansas Arts Council, University of Arkansas Community and Family Institute, Iowa Arts Council, and Center for Digital Technology and Learning at Drake University in Des Moines. Selected exhibitions of her work include On the Street Gallery in Memphis, Maryland Art Place (MAP) in Baltimore, Boston Center for the Arts, Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT, Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville, TN, and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, WI. Springer is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
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Comments ( 1 Comment )
This is AMAZING, Ive been working with the Homeless for about a year and 2 months. It’s so amazing to see people take this seriously and help these people… Thank you!
Everett W. Coonfield II added these pithy words on
Mar 02 10 at
11:25 pm
