The Courage Within: Women Without Shelter, an exhibit at the Monterey Museum of Art from early to mid 2022 focused on the women who have faced homelessness in their local community of Monterey, California (Courage wi
thin…). This exhibit worked with a number of local artists and organisations in order to contextualise the lives of these women who were faced with homelessness and what that looks like in this area. They used the resources available to the museum to incorporate these individuals who face homelessness, as well as their voices, into the project.
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The goal of the exhibit Courage Within: Women Without Shelter, was to make visible the lives and challenges of women faced with homelessness. The exhibit itself works with several different female artists: Amanda Salm, Dora Lisa Rosenbaum, Melissa Smedley, in addition to Denese Sanders. These artists work with a range of different mediums from textiles to portraiture to video performance (Courage within…). The exhibit included works from these artists, which are a product of their experiences working in close contact with the female homeless population of this community. The other aspect to this exhibit was from the local community. Over the course of several years, the Monterey Museum of Art partnered with several local organisations including Critical Ground which encompasses the artists listed above, the Fund for Homeless Women, and Open Ground Studios, a community art studio. These different organisations working together allowed for the active participation of the local homeless community in this exhibit (Courage within…). It gave the opportunity for workshops in which these women could express themselves, in their own terms, and for that to be a central part of what was featured in the exhibit. Leading up to the exhibit, there were book arts, drawing, painting, and printmaking workshops all designed for working specifically with women experiencing homelessness. The artists of this exhibit had the opportunity to work with the community in these workshops and get to know them, thus making every part of the exhibit all the more inclusive. This exhibit partnered with the Fund for Homeless Women to both include the local population as well as give back to the community (Courage within…).
The unique experience women who are homeless face, was a central part of this exhibition. Women have their own perspectives and experiences when it comes to experiencing things such as housing or homelessness. The ways in which they are impacted and the ways in which they handle these situations. The gendered aspects to these types of realities is important to acknowledge. The ways in which this exhibit handles this topic are interesting to consider. One of the artists from Courage Within: Women Without Shelter, Denese Sanders, approached this by saying, “…by nature, we all need to be seen and heard in the world, yet for women living with homelessness, identity exposure is too great a risk to their safety and pride, while chronic invisibility crushes their emotional wellbeing” (Courage within…). This is a sensitive, yet incredibly important idea to keep in mind and include within our approach and the exhibit at large. The non-profit organisation, Career and Recovery Resources Inc, has an article on the challenges women experiencing homelessness face. These challenges centre around women’s health and children, as a high number of women experiencing homelessness are single mothers. In addition to this, women are especially prone to sexual assault, physical violence, amoung other brutalities (Unique Challenges…). Women’s experiences of homelessness are distinct and their experiences deserve a platform to be heard.
This sensitive and personal topic in a workshop such as this is delicate, yet important to discuss. Research done in the article “Co-production and arts-informed inquiry as creative power for knowledge mobilisation” indicates that co-production in the arts often opened up participants to learn more about each other and to feel more comfortable with each other (Liddiard ,225). This knowledge is especially relevant for workshops that focus on sensitive and personal subjects. Another article that centres this co-production of research focused on co-producing research on disabilities with disabled youth. This article breaks down working with the ethical, practical, and legal concerns for co-producing research with disabled youth. Highlighting the complexities of co-produced work in terms of relationship dynamics (MacGregor, 163-164). In this it emphasises the complex nature of co-producing relationships. The dynamics here allow insight into the work behind these relationships as well as the ethical considerations. This method of knowledge production offers a unique look into community involvement in workshops.
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My colleagues and I will be working with the work of artist Winnie Herbstein, the focus will largely be on the current housing crisis. In her work Dampbusters (2021), she pulls in information from Cathy McCormack, a housing and anti-poverty activist, who was working with a female housing project in the 1980s (McCormack). There is a great focus on housing and its connection to the community. This relationship is highlighted in Winnie Herbstein’s work, especially in relation to Cathy McCormack. Keeping this case study in mind when approaching Winnie Herbstein’s work brings up many important ideas about how to approach such a topic (Herbstine). A topic where something so essential as housing becomes political, makes it all the more important to be aware of the community presence. Courage Within: Women Without Shelter has many aspects that make it an interesting case study for our exhibition. What stands out to me from our own research into Cathy McCormack and the work of Winnie Herbstein is the inclusion of the wider community into the exhibition. This inclusion of community input, feedback, and space to share their own experiences in relation to the topic was influential to my own outlook on the project. This central focus on community greatly connects to our own project, and despite the differences between the projects there are connections that can be learned from. This case study handled this topic in a way that was respectful, this is something that holds significance to every project working with individuals on personal topics.
Bibliography
“Courage within: Women without Shelter: Monterey Museum of Art.” Monterey Museum of Art, March 22, 2022. https://montereyart.org/upcoming-exhibitions/courage-within-women-without-shelter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=courage-within-women-without-shelter.
Herbstine, Winnie. Dampbusters, 2021. Access: https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/Dampbusters%20(2021)%20by%20Winnie%20Herbstein%2C%20EU5871/1_ko1i44ly.
“Image Relay – Monterey Museum of Art: Courage Within: Women without Shelter Collection.” Monterey Museum of Art | Courage within: WOMEN without Shelter Collection. https://montereyart.imagerelay.com/sb/16956748-4b4c-4f6f-a6d0-799f8b8085ae/courage-within-women-without-shelter.
Liddiard, Kirsty et al. “‘I Was Excited by the Idea of a Project That Focuses on Those Unasked Questions’ Co‐Producing Disability Research with Disabled Young People.” Children & society 33.2 (2019): 154–167. Web.
MacGregor, Stephen et al. “Co-Production and Arts-Informed Inquiry as Creative Power for Knowledge Mobilisation.” Evidence & policy 18.2 (2022): 206–235. Web.
McCormack, Cathy. “Bad Housing = Bad Health.” World health 47, no. 6 (1994): 22–24.
“Unique Challenges of Women Experiencing Homelessness.”, Career and Recovery Resources Inc, https://www.careerandrecovery.org/unique-challenges-of-women-experiencing-homelessness/.
“Winnie Herbstein.” homepage. https://winnieherbstein.com/.
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