Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
"I've been saving this picture, 'Snowed In', for Christmas. It's a sort of American Nativity, isn't it? Last year there were 200,000 Americans living out of their cars, enough people that some cities are enacting laws to make their already difficult lives more difficult. Parking ban and ordinances that criminalize living in your car are everywhere. Seattle alone has twenty ordinances criminalizing vehicle residency. On the other hand, some cities are creating 'safe parking zones' where homeless people are encouraged to park their cars and feel more secure against theft and assault. I admit the hot air balloon in the background intrigues me with the possibility of another story, but still, to me, the primary story of a father and son sheltering under a tarp by their vehicle is charming at first glance and heartbreaking when thinking of the far too many families who have no alternative."
More sobering thoughts from Cajsa on what this image by Abel Streeter evokes:
"I was reading 'No Way In, No Way Out', an essay in her recent book Call Them By Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit and this sentence captured me. 'The young can’t remember (and many of their elders hardly recall) that few people were homeless before the 1980s. They don’t grasp that this problem doesn’t have to exist...' This is true, homelessness is a choice that we have made as a society."
See all of Cajsa's Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter or on her blog.
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