In 2011, CDA was invited to collaborate on a public art project with the Fresno Art Museum and Poverello House, Fresno’s leading homeless shelter. CDA made portraits of unhoused people who had volunteered to participate. We also suggested including portraits of housed people to make the point the anyone can potentially become homeless. Art museum staff then made giant monochrome poster prints of our images and installed them on walls throughout downtown Fresno. No press release was issued, and no publicity sought. The idea was to raise awareness of homelessness with a public art installation that would compel people ask questions. Social Media soon filled up with speculative discussions about the mysterious images and their origin.
We were intrigued by the way the monochrome images became distorted by the installation process and the passing of time. We also liked the way they acquired color from the lighting in their surroundings and saw the potential for a very different secondary project. In 2018, we reprinted some of the poster portraits and installed them in new locations. We rephotographed some of them right away, then waited several days, weeks or months before rephotographing the others to create this portfolio.
All of the people in these photographs volunteered to participate and signed model releases.
Click here to support collaborative CDA projects like the Homelessness Public Art Installations.
