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DiverseWorks, Understanding Poverty Project present reception
for Healthcare for the Homeless – Houston
Featuring an exhibition of photography by Ben Tecumseh DeSoto;
HOUSTON, TX—DiverseWorks Artspace and the Understanding Poverty Project will hold a reception at 4:00 to 6:00p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, for the general public and media to learn more about Healthcare for the Homeless - Houston, an organization that provides healthcare services to homeless men, women and children. Understanding Poverty, a more than 20-year photo investigation by photographer Ben Tecumseh DeSoto will serve as the background of the event which will be held at 1117 East Freeway, Houston, Texas, 77002.
DeSoto’s documentary work on poverty and homelessness started back in 1980 and deepened with his 1988 encounter with two homeless individuals, Ben White and Judy Pruitt. While both were subjects of Houston Chronicle stories, DeSoto’s ongoing relationship with Ben and Judy allowed him to document their lives as they cycled in and out of the prison system, on and off the streets, and through halfway houses. He witnessed them experiencing destitution, helplessness, desperation, hope, chaos, and starting all over again. The exhibition, curated by Clint Willour and with words by Ann Walton Sieber, will include Ben and Judy’s stories, as well as a breadth of salon-style photographs interspersed with text drawn from interviews and the classics of “hard times” literature; collage-style assemblages reflecting DeSoto’s populist “punk” aesthetic, one of his stylistic alter-egos; a light installation made from negatives by artist Sarah Whatley Ayers; and a film short covering the topic of poverty in Houston
About Healthcare for the Homeless
Healthcare for the Homeless - Houston (HHH) originated from an initial partnership between Baylor College of Medicine and SEARCH Homeless Project. After several years of providing medical services to Houston's homeless, the need to integrate care from a broader perspective became evident. The mission of HHH is to promote health, hope, and dignity for Houston's homeless through accessible and comprehensive care.
About The Understanding Poverty Project
Understanding Poverty is an ongoing collaboration between DeSoto and writer/editor Ann Walton Sieber in the role of Project Editor. Sieber’s contributions include field reporting, writing and conception of the exhibition text as well as a developing book and documentary film with DeSoto as first camera. The Project has become a joint effort with collaborators including DiverseWorks, the Houston Endowment, Que Imaging, the photography subjects and others. It also showcases the efforts of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to End Chronic Homelessness and the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County. Everyone is involved to help the public understand the underlying causes of homelessness and poverty. The “solutions” presented in the work may have implications for the housing, health, and economic issues facing society at large.
About Ben Tecumseh DeSoto
Ben Tecumseh DeSoto immerses real-world photojournalism into the higher concerns of art and social justice. A native Houstonian, DeSoto was a staff photographer at The Houston Chronicle for 25 years (1981 to 2006), The Houston Post (1980-81) and The Pasadena Citizen (1976-80). His work has been included in exhibitions at DiverseWorks, Lawndale Art Annex and Blaffer Gallery, among others, and is featured in several collections including the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, the Harry Ransom Collection, University of Texas Austin, and the private collection of Caroline Huber and the late Walter Hopps.
DeSoto has worked on multimedia publications with Houston A+ Challenge as part of the Congressional Record, No Child Left Behind Hearing (2007-2008). He worked as an assistant producer on Location, Location, Location: The Struggle over the Land of Freedman's Town, a documentary about grassroots struggle to influence the fate of Allen Parkway Village, public housing sited next to downtown Houston and the Fourth Ward neighborhood.
In the spring of 1992, DeSoto delved into the topic of homelessness and poverty in a photographic installation at DiverseWorks for FotoFest titled Urban Poverty. The work also documented the desecration of Freedman’s Towns, the first settlements of freed slaves, in cities like Houston, Dallas and Atlanta.
DeSoto has given back to the community by working as an instructor with the Urban League (Children’s Museum, Houston, 2008-2000); Campaign for Achievement; Houston Community College; Dow Jones Workshop for Minority Students; and Fresh Visionaries Program (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, underwritten by Ford Foundation, 1991).
DeSoto has garnered many accolades for his photojournalistic work, including: 1992 Press Club of Houston, First Place Picture Story; 1991 National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Third Place; 1990 Inter American Press Association, First in Photography; 1989 National Headliners, Outstanding Feature Photography; 1988 Southern Photographer of the Year, Third Place Humor; 1986 Associated Press Texas Class 4-A, First Place Sports; and the 1985 Art Directors Club of Houston, Bronze Medal in Photography. In addition to his awards, DeSoto has also received recognition from Mentor - Regional Gifted and Talented programs (2006-2005) and the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, Inc. (2000).
About Clint Willour
Clint Willour is the curator for the Galveston Art Center and has been with the center for 18 years. He curates 24 exhibitions per year in Galveston and serves regularly as a guest curator or juror for institutions throughout Texas and beyond.
He currently serves on several boards and committees with various art organizations such as the Houston Center for Photography, where he is a past President, Houston FotoFest, the Holocaust Museum, Houston, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where he is also Chair of the Photography Accessions Subcommittee and a member of the Collections Committee.
Willour was a founding member and President of the Houston Art Dealers Association and was the originator of the popular Introductions exhibitions held each summer. He was recently voted Best Art Guru 2007 by the Houston Press, and named Texas Patron of the Year in 2006 by the Art League Houston
He also writes regularly for institutional catalogues and brochures as well as for the publications Artlies and Spot and the online magazine Glasstire.
About Ann Walton Sieber
Ann Walton Sieber has been a writer and journalist in her native Houston for more than 25 years, serving as editor of OutSmart, Cite and arts editor of The Houston Press. Her writing appears regularly in local and national publications, from a story about a union blitz campaign for The Texas Observer to a cover story on Muslim professionals in the Deep South for Saudi Aramco World. She has taught narrative journalism at the Rice School of Continuing Studies and won numerous local and national awards for her articles. She serves as Project Editor and Writer for the Understanding Poverty exhibit and book.
About DiverseWorks Art Space
Known for its groundbreaking artistic and education programs, DiverseWorks is one of the premiere
contemporary arts centers in the United States. For more than two decades, DiverseWorks has been a
hub for the presentation of daring and innovative work, commissioning major artistic projects in all disciplines,
and an advocate for artists worldwide. Founded by artists for artists, DiverseWorks continues its commitment
to bold artistic exploration, creative risk-taking, and building audiences for contemporary art.
Funding Credits:
Programming for DiverseWorks’ 2008-2009 is generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Bayou City Arts Festival/ Art Colony Association; Bridgeway Capital Management, Inc; Bridgeway Charitable Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts; Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; French-US Exchange in Dance (FUSED); Houston Endowment Inc.; John Roberson Charitable Fund; Louisa Stude Sarofim Foundation; Mid-America Arts Alliance; National Dance Project; National Arts Marketing Project of the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts, supported by a grant from the American Express Company; National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency); National Performance Network; Nightingale Code Foundation; Nimoy Foundation; Nonprofit Finance Fund; Peter Norton Family Foundation; Regulatory Economics Group; Texas Commission on the Arts; Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.; The Wortham Foundation, Inc; and DiverseWorks Major Donors and DiverseDonors.
Shawna Forney
Public Relations & Marketing Manager
DiverseWorks
1117 East Freeway
Houston, TX 77002
713.223.8346
shawna@diverseworks.org
www.diverseworks.org
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