Where Are They Now: Gig #4 has been accepted into Edge Gallery‘s annual juried group exhibition, On Edge 2023.

The show opens on August 4th, 6:00-9:00 pm. I will post any relevant updates here or on my socials.

About the work:

Gig #4 began as I expanded my research beyond the Migrant Mother into other imagery from the Great Depression, and many of the images were of Breadlines.

So where are today’s Breadlines? I initially thought the equivalent would be SNAP benefits (formerly known as Food Stamps), a government-funded food program. But those aren’t tied to a specific location where I could place the individuals from the images. So then I asked, where do those in need generally eat?

Fast Food restaurants are the answer. Most poor neighborhoods are food deserts. Grocery Stores won’t move to poor neighborhoods due to systematic racism and little to no investment in infrastructure and other needed resources (plus, poor folks aren’t very profitable).

Now you might be asking, at this point, aren’t people in Breadlines unemployed? So how is this a ‘gig’? If you’ve been unemployed, you know it is a full-time job requiring much training, researching, searching, and writing (and re-writing) cover letters. And if you’ve received unemployment benefits, the requirements only increase, usually including applying to and documenting 5 or more jobs a week. When I received COVID-related benefits, I had several mandatory meetings with job-search agents, one lasting 5 hours.

So our Breadline attendee is enjoying an affordable meal before heading out to drop off a few more resumes.