Self Portrait Performance

 

  

            This topic came to mind because it is a huge issue that I've been seeing every day now that I have been in Washington DC for the past month. Throughout the city, there are homeless people everywhere and some have gathered in tents in parks and even near the Nations Capitol.  

I have never seen this amount of homeless people in such a small area. Although there are homeless shelters they are still a lot of people living on the streets. During shifts, there has been a lot of encounter with homeless people and those who were on drugs. 

                Washington D.C. is an expensive city to live in with a high cost of living especially in the downtown areas near the Capitol. The city has put money into homeless shelters and they have been getting filled up. I never knew homelessness was a huge problem until I saw a tent city about 2 blocks from the Capitol building with a group of homeless people staying in tents. The city has been trying to move them away from the area but as you go around the city, there are more tents scattered around the city and homeless people sitting outside on sidewalks with a few of their belongings. 

               I believe these people are here in the city because they believe they would find better opportunities. They believe that there is more money downtown because there are more people, especially those who are wealthy or financially stable. In reality, downtown is not so the best place to look for opportunities especially coming from homelessness. There are more corporate jobs and higher-end jobs in the city than if you were to branch out a little. Then again there needs to be some time of organization to start getting homeless people jobs than just let them suffer in the city that represents America.

John Berger

                "A painting can speak to the soul - by way of what it referred to, but never by the way it                   envisaged."(Page 87)

                    "The art of any culture will show a wide differential of talent. But in no other culture is the            difference between 'masterpiece' and average work so large as in the tradition of oil painting."               (Page 88)

                    "The gaze of the ambassadors is both aloof and warry. They expect no reciprocity. They               wish the image of their presence to impress others with their vigilance and their distance."(Page            97)