Read Between the Lines

Read Between the Lines

An exploratory installation by Ellie Kingsbury

Though a veteran in fine art photography, Kingsbury has recently been exploring social issues through room-sized installation projects.  READING BETWEEN THE LINES is inspired by conversations with people experiencing homelessness and signers (the name given to people who stand on street corners with a cardboard sign asking for help).  It will feature large pieces of cardboard, onto which people experiencing homelessness have written their stories.  The work will be displayed to resemble housing, but clearly insufficient to actually provide shelter.  Its descending sizes and placement are reminiscent of dominoes, signifying the many issues at stake when facing unstable housing.  

Kingsbury has received guidance and support from St. Stephen’s Human Services, offering perspective from an organizational standpoint and allowing her to visit with guests in their shelters.  St. Stephen’s goal is to support individuals and families experiencing homelessness in achieving permanent, affordable housing.  They progress toward this goal through street outreach, shelter, and housing programs.  They meet people where they are and work together toward self-sufficiency and housing stability.

St. Stephen’s will have a table at the reception and staff will be available to answer questions and talk with visitors.  

Artist Statement
READ BETWEEN THE LINES is a rumination about my place in the gap between the haves and have nots.  Of particular interest to me are signers - the people seen on street corners with a cardboard signs asking for money.  Signers put themselves out in the public eye with a message that must be short and to the point.  This gives power to passersby to fill in any blanks in any way they choose, and it often is based in some sort of fear.  

What started as a photo project quickly evolved into a gathering of signer’s fuller stories.  I’ve met college graduates, Navy SEALS, people who just recently lost their job and housing, and yes, drunks.  In this show I represent the tenuousness of stable housing - something many of us are one paycheck away from losing.  I’ve given signers and homeless people large pieces of cardboard to write anything they want to say - their background stories, statistics, comparisons between themselves and people of means - and used these pieces to create a free-standing semblance of housing - one that is  unstable and unworthy of human habitation.

 Artist Biography
As a life-long Midwesterner, Ellie Kingsbury’s photography centers around the beauty and life force found in the mundane.  Ellie received a McKnight Fellowship for her project “Automatic Beyond Belief”, and is a two-time recipient of the MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant.  She has shown both nationally and internationally, including Beijing, Helsinki, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Portland OR.  Locally she has been featured in notable galleries such as Katherine Nash, St. Catherine University, and the Bloomington Arts Center.


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