street roots
8
Nov. 21, 2014
Pressing the issue
Artist, provocateur A rt Hazelwood talks imagery and action on the homeless front
that kind of thing. I encountered (Street
Roots sister paper) Street Sheet, the street
or decades, Art Hazelwood has used
publication of the Coalition of
his sinister style of art as a means of
Homelessness, and thought I could
educating society about complex
contribute to i t I sent them some work, and
social issues by way of posters and books. it wasn’t necessarily political but it was life-
His often dark and nefarious-looking images
on-the-street imagery, and I started
frequently attack powerful figures that he
producing work directly for them. The
believes are directly contributing to poverty.
editor would give me a topic: “We’re doing
The 52-year-old San Franciscan creates
an issue on addiction.” I would create
the majority of his screen prints for Street
something for i t For me, at first it was: “Oh,
Sheet, a publication of the Coalition on
I’m getting my work outlhere. I’m
Homelessness, and for the Western
connecting to something.” But later making
Regional Advocacy Project WRAP has
art for Street Sheet politicized my work and
brought West Coast organizations fighting
it taught me more about the issues. My
homelessness, including Street Roots,
immediate connection to homelessness was
together since 2005, and is currently
a real desire to connect to people who are
promoting the Homeless Bill of Rights in
underserved in our community. I was
California and Oregon.
connected to disability rights as well when I
A recently released book written by
first moved to San Francisco for similar
WRAP director Paul Boden, “House Keys
reasons.
Not Handcuffs: Homeless Organizing, Art
and Politics in San Francisco and Beyond,”
E.G.: The new book, “House Keys Not
features a selection of posters Hazelwood
Handcuffs,” examines 30 years of activism in
created for the organization over a 15-year
an effort to examine what worked and what
period, along with an essay from the artist
didn’t. After reflecting on your own activism
about the growing influence of art in
efforts as an artist, is there a time when you
homeless community organizing.
feel your art was particularly effective and
what was the end result?
Em ily Green: A t what point in your life
did you decide to marry your art with political
A.H.: The arc of time, the 30-year period
activism, and what inspired you to focus on
really starts out with very little art -
issues around homelessness?
handwritten signs - and then the Street
Sheet came into existence almost 10 years
A rt Hazelwood: I moved [to San
into i t At that point the artwork that was
Franciscof in 1993. I’d been doing art that
supporting the coalition and its activism, my
people told me was political, but it was
work included, was mostly created for Street
really just social commentary, street life,
Sheet, as opposed to street a r t And I felt
BY EMILY GREEN
Above, Art
Hazelwood’s print
“In the Balance”
depicts global,
injustice. A scale
holds the world -
the 99 percent - on
one side and those
in power on the
other. A female
figure representing
justice and
democracy attempts
to balance the off-
balance system.
STAFF W R ITER
F
like that was an effective information tool -
as a way to reach people without heavy tex t
It really started to broaden in the early 90s
when we basically started using artwork in
more ways. We started
using it as street
posters and working
with other groups, like
advertising agencies to
do bus ads, for
example. For me, the
real useful part of my
artwork came when
WRAP was bom in
2006, and I started
working with (WRAP
Executive Director)
Paul Boden to
organize artists to
answer the question:
Why are there
homeless in such and
such numbers in
relation to federal
government spending
numbers? We were basically taking data and
making art to tell the story of that data, and
I think those are very effective posters.
E.G.: You mentioned that posters can be
more effective than plain text. Can you
elaborate on that a little?
A.H.: People take in information in
different ways. For some people, reading an
essay about something gives them
See HAZELWOOD, page 9
P H O T O BY FR A N C ISC O
D O M IN G U E Z
A rt Hazelwood at a
protest in San •
Francisco.