Homeless Lives Matter: In Progress

I am currently working on a body of work that is inspired by my mother, Lorena Hernandez, who was homeless due to severe battles with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that has impacted not only my mother’s life, but mine as well. The illness kept my mother from being able to maintain a stable home life for her children. Schizophrenia is characterized by thought or experiences that seems out of touch with reality, disorganized speech or behavior, and decreased participation in daily activities. Difficulty with concentration and memory, may also be present. Negative stigmas that surround schizophrenia are drug use, addiction, laziness, and hopelessness. Through this series of paintings and sculptures I aspire to humanize our homeless population and to educate the public about the general mistreatment of our homeless.

Emmanuel Doublin an African American and Hispanic artist, who lives and works in the Coachella Valley, California. It is imperative that Emmanuel shares his artistic vision through the lens of the African American, and Hispanic experience. While Emmanuel was studying art history, he questioned, why the cannon of beauty was Eurocentric focused; this inspired him to concentrate his work through the lens of the minority. He is currently working on creating oil paintings of homeless people throughout the Coachella Valley. Emmanuel is working towards creating a positive narrative, through painting candid portraits of his subjects, he gives an identity and voice to his subjects, who are our homeless population. Emmanuel captures the sense of place; environment is extremely important within his work, as the valley is fragile and extreme.