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print this pageFinding Our Way Home: How Lack of Affordable Housing Impacts individuals and Communities
Valerie Mendoza
Saturday, October 19 - 1:30PM to 2:30PM
Kimball Arts 143
When experienced in isolation, lack of affordable housing may represent a personal failure to those who face the challenge of securing an affordable place to live. When considered on a regional, national or global scale, it becomes clear that, far from an issue of personal success or failure, this is a world-wide phenomenon that should be attributed to other factors such as the speculative real estate market, gentrification, and the absence of meaningful government oversight. Though housing should be considered a basic, human right, all too often it becomes a game of speculation for those who can afford to play. Beyond considering the impact on the individual, how does the lack of affordable housing rupture the links that build a functional, healthy community? What are the factors that brought us to this place? For the past 10 years, my work has focused solely on the issue of affordable housing. As a lens-based installation artist, my work combines photographic images, video interviews, statistical information, sound and objects to create thought-provoking, immersive experiences for my viewers. Three of my recent projects offer opportunities for public discussion. My interest in this issue began with the housing crisis in America. In 2017, a sabbatical and artist residency in Porto, Portugal, allowed me to include an international perspective. I photographed and conducted video interviews throughout Portugal. Two exhibitions resulted from this work: In the Thompson Gallery, San Jose, CA, "Café Espelho" (Cafe Mirror), included photographs with video interviews in the setting of a replica of a Portuguese Café; a solo exhibition entitled "O Custo de Vida" (The Cost of Living), at Galeria do Sol, Porto, Portugal, combined two bodies of work on the issue of affordable housing in America with "À Venda" (For Sale) which placed the video interviews into the setting of a faux American real estate office. Together, these cross-cultural pieces introduced two populations facing similar problems to one another. During the pandemic, I focused on local issues and ways to include international perspectives without travel. In August 2022, a solo exhibition of my work was featured at the Art Kiosk in Redwood City, CA. "The Destination Café," allowed visitors to compare the challenges of unaffordable housing in cities throughout the Bay Area with the those faced by local residents of tourist destinations around the globe. My newly finished piece, "We Value Your Business" addresses the banking industry, offering what appear to be typical banking ads in the form of 8, poster-sized images. The imagery was sourced from online banking ads, then digitally altered and expanded to fit the 24" x 36" aspect ratio. Closer inspection reveals information of an unexpected nature: statistics on the historical rise of rent and mortgage cost in cities nationwide; descriptions of systemic injustice within the housing market; a historical record on the progression of homelessness in the U.S.; income inequity ranging from declining salaries to rising housing cost-to-income ratios, etc. With a mix of statistical information, personal narrative, song lyrics and audio, this work employs elements of seriousness and humor, where statistics represent sobering facts, while a playful design, pastel colors, and music hint at the tragedy/absurdity of our current accepted reality. "Finding Our Way Home..." will introduce this work, with the goal of expanding dialogue around this critical topic.
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