The standing "De Pie" project

“The Standing (De Pie) Project” is a self-advocacy and socially-engaged collaboration art project, centered in Miami-Dade County and organized by two Miami-based visual artists (one with expertise in sculpture and the other with extensive experience in mental health counseling and art therapy). With the help of individuals from the community, “The Standing Project” will bring together 21 chronically homeless people from various Camillus House programs to make art. The project aims at creating 3 life-size sculptures from scrap materials and other ordinary objects that people discard on a daily basis. In addition, the creation of Zines will be an integral part of the art-making process. A Zine, (little self-published magazine made from scratch) is a person-centered approach in the field of art therapy (Mosinski, 2010, p. 261). Zines may include poetry, drawings, photography, collage, and/or any combination of these. They are “diaristic” (Thomas, 2009, p.35) in nature, and their purpose is self-exploratory and sometimes educational on under-represented, important issues. The Zines will not only provide a forum through which participants can work through and share their ideas and experiences, but will also advocate for and raise awareness of three issues potentially related to homelessness (mental health illnesses, living with HIV, and LGBTQ experiences and concerns). The sculptural pieces will be entitled, respectively, “Faces of Mental Illnesses,” “Live Positive HIV” and “Let’s Get Bold Together? (LGBTQ).” The goal of this project is to provide this group of homeless individuals an opportunity to repurpose objects towards a positive message, create new memories, and increase social interactions among themselves as well as with other members of their community through the art making process. The found-object sculptures will be used to advocate on behalf of every chronically homeless person in Miami-Dade County and create awareness about homelessness and the creativity behind the often-stigmatized faces of members of these populations. Participants will create a project portfolio that will culminate in an exhibition. The project requests a budget of $17,000.