[Category Award is "Representation of Space, Architecture and Conflicts", but could be also "People and Communities" or Anthropology and Territories"].
Every artwork is personal and is about our experience, our existence and our being in this world. Having a place to live, a house, and our connection to a place, or to more than a place, is fundamental to develop our lives.
One of my fears when I was attending Art College was to end up in a street, so it deeply stroke me to find tents and people camping just outside the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the nearby area, when I was in Portland, last December.
I tried to establish a relationship with the houseless community and the portraits are of some of the people I succeeded to have a relationship with, even if briefly.
I wish I had more time to talk with each person and understand their life better.
I tried to feel what it means living in a street or in a tent or queuing for food in a rainy winter day. I was frozen and wet after just three hours.
Some of them were always in the same place. I went to meet those people or stand beside them for long, so they might have thought I was mad.
There was a woman always there, by the Transition Project Resource Center.
Some of them wrote down their name on a notebook I had, one spent a whole afternoon with me. I met him, ‘Max the Old man’ just outside his tent and I asked him if he really lived there.
Then I met by chance again another man I talked to, on a bus, the day before I went back to Italy. He greeted me in a very friendly way and so did another one I didn’t have the chance to ask his name, as he disappeared in no time.
They are appearances, like the tents, they come and go, with their burden of
memories and sufferance.
This is a metaphor of our human condition, we are not permanent. And we could find ourselves very easily houseless, especially now as we are all experiencing a global crisis.
I would like to take care of them through their memories, their belongings,
by recording the places where they are forced to live now, and the beautiful
environment that could host them wishing them, and us all, a better future.
The following research is part of the portfolio. References and sources can be found at the end.
I was in Portland from Nov. 30 to Dec. 21, 2021 and I mainly photographed from Dec. 13, 2021
The images of maps are elaborated from the “Weekly campsite report: Dec. 13-19, 2021”
Published on December 21, 2021 9:00 am
When community members report concerns about campsites, the Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program assesses each location, helps clean up trash and debris, and evaluates health and safety risks. See how the program served Portland this week.
From Dec. 13-19, the Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program:
Received 1853 new campsite reports, including 734 reports of people living in vehicles
Received reports about 246 active campsites, accounting for duplicate reports about the same locations
Assessed approximately 416 campsites, engaging with people living there, collecting garbage and biohazardous materials, and coordinating with service providers
Cleaned 19 campsites, removing only identified garbage and biohazardous materials
Removed 11 campsites that posed a risk to health and safety, safely storing campers’ personal property
Summary
Campsite reports received: 1853
Active campsites reported: 246
Campsite assessments: 416
Campsites cleaned: 19
Campsites removed: 11
Due to COVID-19, the Impact Reduction Team has revised its campsite removal protocols
Northwest Portland
The Impact Reduction Team cleaned the following sites:
NW 23rd and NW Vaughn
NW 6th and NW Davis
near 210 NW Broadway
The Impact Reduction Team cleaned and removed the following sites:
The Impact Reduction Team cleaned and removed the following sites:
NW 16th and NW Raleigh
Based on health and safety criteria, the following locations have been posted for removal:
NW Vaughn onramp to I-405
NW 2nd and NW Glisan
https://www.portland.gov/homelessnessimpactreduction/news/2021/12/21/weekly-campsite-report-dec-13-19-2021
City of Portland, Oregon, official website, in Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program, News, Weekly campsite report, Dec. 13-19, 2021,
published December 21, 2021 9:00 am
When concerns are reported, a team is dispatched to clean up trash, provide resources, and assess health and safety. The highest-risk sites are scheduled for removal, and personal property is safely stored.
The Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program is responsible for coordinating campsite cleanups on property and right-of-way owned by the City of Portland or the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Assessing campsites is part of the Impact Reduction Program’s work to reduce the impacts of homelessness today while partner programs expand access to safe, affordable housing.
Removing campsites is a last resort. However, many city streets and parks were not designed for extended camping. Without access to hygiene and other services, locations can become health and safety hazards – not just to the surrounding community, but to people living in encampments too.
How the process works
Campsite assessment begins when a community member reports a concern, generating a work assignment to dispatch a crew with lived experience. The work team engages with people at the site, offers resources, picks up garbage identified by campers and conducts an assessment based on established criteria:
Conspicuous drug use or paraphernalia
Impact on neighbourhood liveability
Proximity to school, park with playground or private residence
Environmental impact
How to retrieve property
Property collected from campsites will be stored by a City contractor for at least 30 days. Property left for longer than 30 days will be destroyed or donated.
To arrange pickup, please call 503-387-1336 with the date, location and a description of items collected Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
References
Amendments to the United States of America Constitution
“Bill of Rights”
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (U.S. Const. amend. VIII).
Ratified December 15, 1791
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(omissis)
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.
(omissis)
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
(omissis)
Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A)
Sources
Multnomah County Official website, Distribution of Shelters
City of Portland, Oregon, official website, in Homelessness and Urban Camping
Impact Reduction Program, News, Weekly campsite report, Dec. 13-19, 2021,
published December 21, 2021 9:00 am
