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Being Human 

Works by Cardboard and Concrete Art Collective 

 

Closing reception: Friday 24, 2022 

5-7pm

Eastside Cultural Center Gallery 

2277 International Blvd. Oakland, CA

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Join us for the closing reception of Being Human, an exhibition by Cardboard and Concrete Art Collective. There will be an artist talk with the collective members, Needa Bee, Ayat Jalal, Toan Nguyen, Yessica Prado and Tim Petty.  Lumpia, drinks and revolutionary art will be served.

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Being Human is not a crime. Simply existing is not a crime. Demanding basic human rights is not a crime. 

 

This exhibition presents the artwork of Cardboard and Concrete Collective (CCC), a collective of unhoused artists who use the power of art to assert their right to live and exist with dignity.

 

In a society marked by its inhumanity towards unhoused people, in a city with a growing housing crisis where poor people and unhoused people face the constant threat of eviction, where simply existing is criminalized -  ART becomes a form of resistance against the violent tactics of erasure, displacement and removal. The artwork on display celebrates the resilience, skills, and genius of the unhoused community and collectively affirms the humanity in the struggle. It serves as a reminder that housing is a human right and that homelesness is not a crime. 

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We live in a country that believes certain lives matter, while other lives are disposable. We live in a nation that dehumanizes the marginalized, oppressed and exploited. We live in a country that criminalized the poor, the mentally unstable, the melanated. 

 

When it comes to unhoused folks, we fall in all these categories. 

 

We forget that the tent, the make-shift shanty, the run-down RV is someone's home, and speak of these dwellings as blight, trash. Rather than speak of the thousands of unhoused as the victims of the racial and economic genocide and cultural ethnic cleansing known as gentrification, many refer to us as a problem that needs to be solved or made invisible. 

 

We hope that through this offering of art, we can remind and refocus the conversation, so that the broader community recognizes unhoused residents as human beings with diverse experiences, dreams, histories, cultures, realities and solutions to this humanitarian crisis. That we depend & rely on the same basic needs: water, air, food, rest, sanitation, safety, connection, kindness. That we are not that much different than those of you who are still living in apartments and houses. And that some of you are one paycheck, one medical crisis, one illegal eviction, one family crisis away from being with us in these streets. 

 

Some have said that what separates humans from the rest of creation is our ability and desire to create art. As you take in our creative works, we ask you to consider your unhoused citizens as human beings being human in the most inhumane of conditions. We ask you - how do we all continue being human in a dehumanizing society?