Visible Storytelling: Los Angeles Poverty Department
We have just finished the video editing of the live conversation between John Malpede (founding director of the Los Angeles Poverty Department), Henriette Brouwers (associate director) and curator Carolina Lio. The video has now been published on Visible's IGTV and YouTube channels.
Since 1985, the LAPD has worked to change the narrative about people living in poverty in the neighbourhood of Skid Row in downtown LA.
Skid Row is the poorest area of the city and has the largest population of homeless people in the US. LAPD, as the first arts organization on Skid Row, has been active in a constant conversation with residents and social service professionals to change the paradigm of the area. Focusing on theatre, visual arts, and activism, LAPD was the first performance group in the nation, which was made up principally of homeless people and the first arts program for homeless people in Los Angeles.
In this video, John Malpede (founding director of LAPD) and Henriette Brouwers (associate director) are in conversation with Visible curator Carolina Lio on their current projects, such as the Walk the Talk Archive, honouring people who have lived and worked in Skid Row; and Skid Row Now&2040, a coalition that identifies funding sources and solutions to house people with extremely low income.
Visible Storytelling is a project by Visible (Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto and Fondazione Zegna) curated by Carolina Lio. It aims to narrate some of the stories behind the projects in the Visible Archive, a platform that researches, produces and connects long-term socially engaged art projects, working with artists dealing with the urgencies of our times.
Visible Storytelling's videos are produced by Looking Forward. Looking Forward also curated the social media campaign associated with the project on Visible Instagram.