Darcy Padilla — California Dreamin’
Exhibition from September 2 to 17, 2023
Ancienne Université, 1 rue du Musée in Perpignan
Free entrance : 10am-8pm
This long-term project is a report on the plight of the homeless in California, victims of economic and social inequality. In 2022, half of all homeless people in the United States were in California, where an estimated 115,000 sleep on the streets or in public parks, in vehicles or abandoned buildings. For more than a decade, the state of California has held the sad record for the number of homeless people in the United States.
United States, San Francisco, February 16, 2013
Summer in an alley off Sixth Street. She was camping out with a group of friends and they sold handmade postcards for money. Of people experiencing homelessness, families with children are 14% and unaccompanied youth are 7%. Studies show that children who are homeless are five times more likely to be homeless as adults, and it will take almost three generations for their family to exit poverty.
United States, Los Angeles
With tens of thousands of people living on the streets, the homelessness crisis has become California’s defining issue. For more than a decade, California has topped the list for the state with the largest homeless population. Every big city experiencing a homelessness boom.
United States, Los Angeles, September 25, 2015
One-third of all the homeless in the United States live in California, and half of all the unsheltered homeless. On a single night, an estimated 171,500 people were experiencing homelessness in the state. And roughly 115,491 were unsheltered—people sleeping on the streets or in parks, vehicles, abandon buildings, and other places.
United States, San Francisco
St. Boniface Catholic Church opens its doors to the Tenderloin neighborhood. The front pews are reserved for mass and the rest are shared with homeless people so they can sleep during the day. The church with arches and stained glass was reconstructed after the 1906 earthquake.
United States, San Francisco, February 4, 2013
She cautiously said yes when I asked if I could photograph her. I asked her name. “I am ‘Worthless.” I paused and asked again. “I am Worthless…not anything to take a picture of.” She went on to say she was homeless, for the last four days. She believed she was kicked out of her single-room-occupancy hotel because she complained about the bed bugs. We talked for a half hour and at the end she said, “Marlana.”
United States, San Francisco, January 26, 2016
David with Sam, both 21, at an encampment on Division Street. David says: “I was kicked out for doing a bunch of drugs…I didn’t tell my mom sorry and that’s all she wants…These streets are messed up, 3 years ago I was a full person. Now, I am depressed as fuck, every day, and hardly any friends…Last time I spoke with mom was a week ago…She asked about the street…I really want to go home, it fucking sucks.”
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