Roof Over My Head
Cast Aluminum, Cast Iron ; 40”x 23”x 24.”
Based on a multitude of factors the relationship we have to our homes can be one of love & compassion or fear & trauma. Right to safe adequate housing faces many hurdles such as local access, vast monetary barriers of home ownership, corporate ownership of residential housing, real estate speculation, gentrification & urban expansion, and the racial discrimination of housing appraisals. There are over a billion individuals in the world who are unhoused. Roughly 500,000 individuals are unhoused in the USA alone, while over 10 million living units sit vacant. All while laws are passed criminalizing living on the street. Housing prices have risen 100-250% in the last 20 years leading many would-be-homeowners to rent from others for the rest of their lives. Greed and an intense lack of care for basic human rights forces many individuals to live in shelters or in the streets. As seen in the sculpture the skeleton sits perched atop the house’s roof, unable to fit into the space they cannot feel the safety and the comfort this home would provide. Perhaps this is the dream home, or a home you see yourself in, or the house you can only rent and pretend is yours. The house is a quaint domicile reflecting the simple wishes of many looking for a home, as well the house is originally modeled in cardboard as a nod to the simple cardboard shelters relied upon by many unhoused individuals.
