Ayadilis Chalas, Is This Real?, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2017
The piece I created expresses concern. Concerned of what’s going to happen next. My painting shows a woman with a concerned expressions while she is holding her child. The woman is afraid of losing her apartment, while she knows that it is not the best living space, The monthly pay adds up to her income. While dealing with the responsibility of being a young parent and now carrying the stress of possibly losing the apartment, she is worried about the life her and the child would deal with. Gentrification brings fear for many people because making enough money to pay the bills and keep the apartment is already difficult, the challenge increases if the individual that is unable to earn enough is able keep up with the rent. Gentrification makes it harder for low income families to live in decency.
Jahchina DeLeon, Toppling Transitions, Oil on Canvas, 2017
In order for gentrification to thrive, the people living in an area have to be forcibly removed, thereby draining the neighborhood of it’s culture and productivity as a community. I call this white-washing. Then the color of dominance moves into gentrifying areas and rent prices go up, new structures are built and hipster coffee shops open. My triptych shows the life of a young girl living in the process of gentrification. The first piece of art is made with charcoal, it represents a black woman in an area that is deemed unworthy and unfit to thrive, and it's broken down shattered and tattered. In the second painting, it is gentrification under construction, buildings are being created and a new look is being started. Yet the woman stays and she begins to slowly lighten, as she lightens she begins to be sad, contradicting the fact that lighter is better. In the last piece, she is the same woman, now she is crying, because although the world around her is beautiful and fits perfectly into place, this woman is in a constant struggle.
Sunshine Martin, Culture for Sale, Oil on canvas, 2017
Culture for sale . Is another piece focusing on how gentrification affects the community. And the idea of gentrification being inevitable comes back into play. Also feeling helpless. The girl in the room represents the community and the neighborhood and how exposed and vulnerable gentrification makes them . And the man looking in represents both the prowling effects of gentrification and how upper white class people want to live in the hood because it's a trend. I also wanted to play with the idea of the girl being on display for the rich to see because they can never put there feet in our shoes because they choose to slum it down in the “hood” most people don’t have the choice. So while you're making a mockery of how i have to live for your latest instagram post how is that supposed to make everyone else feel. because you don't know what it's like to lose everything until you do.
