“You just have to find the through line, the intangible vertical axis that runs through all things”, Todd Kline.

When asked to participate in Facing Homelessness’ annual Street Heart project, I was both excited and nervous about what my contribution might be. My art practice has strayed far from the days of portrait painting, and now lives in a space that is difficult to define even to other artists. From working with new media art to temporary public installations, then moving towards performance and social practice, I have been in a constant search for mediums that create a holding space for people to come together and explore difficult questions…

How could I make an artwork that stayed true to my personal practice while remaining an artist rendered portrait of a (previously) homeless person? After weighing a number of ideas and speaking to the program founder, I decided to try to create a non-figurative portrait of my assigned subject, Todd Kline. The final project has culminated in a book, a digital copy of our interviews, resin castings of a rock Todd gave me the first time we met, and a series of slides I took of Todd and his artwork. In this project I question how art can humanize, instead of tokenize, marginalized people who are viewed in society as an Other? The question feels particularly relevant due to my own lived experiences growing up in a family teetering on the edge of poverty having a number of my family members experience homelessness first hand.

Read the full book and interviews…