That poverty exists at all within the richest nation in the world is disheartening. That over nearly forty million people live below the poverty level is criminal. This places our country high in industrialized country rankings.

It is this condition, coupled with my first hand experience of a housing project that drives the installation “Hung Out In The Projects.” I did escape, not withstanding the scars that empower the narratives of the installation.

The installation is viewed from a scaffold platform in a semi-darken environment. Different parts of the installation are lighted at intervals. Several seconds here. Several seconds there. There are moments where all goes black. Enlarged poverty statistics project onto walls and broken windows. In conjunction, a soundtrack of discordant city noises is heard.

“Hung Out in the Projects” postulates two distinct views. One is from the scaffold platforms, looking down upon the scene, a separation between the haves and the have-nots. The platform holds an escape exit as well, one not available to those trapped inside the project perimeter. A second view are windows. Each symbolizes the experience of being a prisoner of the project environment, inside looking out, a trap within the trap.

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