Through the Storm: Finding Home

Exhibit Info

Title:

Through the Storm: Finding Home

Dates:

October 23 to December 31, 2023

Location:

2nd Floor Reading Room

About:

The art and poetry in this exhibit have been created by homeless individuals in HomeFront’s ArtSpace therapeutic program.

As parents of young children who found HomeFront in Mercer County, New Jersey during the darkest time of our lives, we present “Through the Storm: Finding Home” hoping it will help engage and educate. We invite visitors to feel some of what families experience in the bruising chaos of homelessness and to recognize the efforts necessary to build a new future of dignity, safety and independence for ourselves and our children.

Step into the tornado of homelessness and read HomeFront clients’ own words evoking homelessness that hang from pieces of coarse cloth. Precursors of impending homelessness – eviction notices, want ads, and hospital bills are some of the upheavals that cause people to become homeless. As chaos dissipates, you make your way through soft but uncomfortable ‘red tape’ conveying the slow and sometimes difficult navigation through bureaucratic systems that both help and hinder the person attempting to escape homelessness. Applications for jobs, loans, and low-income housing are written on the tape. If you persevere, you emerge into clarity, with comfort and rest in sight.

We hope this exhibit dispels the assumption that the homeless and those trying to claw their way out of poverty are incompetent and somehow ‘less than’ others. After experiencing our exhibit, we encourage you to engage compassionately with your neighbors in need and to proactively work towards the American ideal of “liberty and justice for all.”

All artwork and poetry on display has been created by homeless artists. If you would like to support our artists,
their artwork is for sale by contacting ArtSpace.