(In)Visible

Sharon Siskin)
in collaboration with USF students
Tamara Costa, Lauren Devine, Meghan M. Stolland
and homeless artists
Errica Carter , Charlesetta Frazier, Raven-Hawk, Edward James, Mrs. Brenda J. McIntosh,Sammie L. Minnieweather, Frances Moore, Antoinette Nichols, Ruthia, Linda Smith, and several anonymous participants.

As part of the “Borders” Crossings exhibition this installation intends to make economic, social and geographic borders apparent. It brings two sides of a boundary together, face to face, hand to hand, and heart to heart. In (In)Visible, USF students met with me and we in turn met with homeless people living on the streets of San Francisco and the East Bay. Carrying with us a collaboratively created series of questions, we solicited responses from people rarely seen and voices rarely heard here at USF, although in close proximity, only miles away. The discussions were simply based on basic day–to-day survival without permanent shelter, and larger views of the world as seen by homeless women, men and children. The photographic images were inspired by the objects and tools of survival, that belong to the people we met. These respectfully collected responses and images were selected for their poetry, poignancy and power. They are brought to public view in order to open dialogue about economic inequities and economic injustice in San Francisco, the Bay Area, the United States and globally. The hope of my work as an artist is always to move the viewer to action, with the belief that even the smallest movement of the heart, can plant the seeds for social change.

Special thanks to the Women’s Daytime Drop-in Center in Berkeley, Poor Magazine in San Francisco and Vital Signs in Berkeley. Additional thanks to Richard Kamler, Pamela Blotner, Glori Simmons and Dean Cannon, for their support of this project.