Eva's fashion statement

This is Eva's Filipino outfit she calls it. It was in the front window of the dress shop when she first saw it. I have given up trying to find her a home and must trust that she is fine where she is. Every solution or offering is met with some kind of resistance. Thirty years on the street have molded her to a fierce defiance of everyone, and I respect that. I am trying now to document all of her outfits. She complains a bit now but so far shows up in one of fifty she says she has.

Never lonesome or without a place to go she forces me to stop worrying over her welfare as I sense that is what she wants. She intends to outlive all of us. When she resists my latest idea of photographing her fashion statements, I push back. What is her real life after all? Picking up the out of date dim sum in Chinatown or conjuring up new ways to wear her hair. I say it is both.

The video I shot of her last spring is set to open at 4Culture in downtown Seattle in February. I am looking for a place to hang a selection of stills that I have of her now.

Ann-Marie Stillion: New Paintings & Photographs at Dandelion Botanicals

Slideshow preview of exhibit here
Join us on Sept. 12, 6-9:30 p.m.
Opening reception for
"Ann-Marie Stillion: New paintings and photographs"
Exhibit runs through Oct. 7.

at Dandelion Botanicals, 5424 Ballard Avenue, Seattle, Washington

Part of the Ballard Art Walk

"The shapes and colors in my mind often speak to me as clearly as words. This collection of photography and painting is meant to celebrate what we can see and go deeper into the conversation between color and content."--ams

Reception for opening of the 4culture electronic gallery 09-10 season

Above: frames from Ann-Marie Stillion's "Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity", about the life and times of Eva Washington, a 77-year-old woman who has lived on the street for almost 30 years. The video will screen for a year in downtown Seattle at the 4Culture Gallery.

Update: You are invited to the reception for the opening of the 4culture electronic gallery 09-10 season at 101 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle. The reception is Thursday, Sept. 3 from 6-8 p.m., part of the First Thursday Art Walk in downtown Seattle. Thirteen artists, including myself, representing a range of video and animation have been selected to screen in their cool street gallery.

Many thanks to all the people who have helped get Eva's video off the ground including Ali Hobbs, Joe Shapiro, the folks at Northwest Film Forum, and the Mt. Baker Senior Center.

Throughout the year, the works will rotate, including one from my ongoing project on Eva Washington. "Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity" is a five minute piece which visually explores her clothes, hands, face and a night bus shelter where she sometimes sleeps.

In the video, Eva tells some of her story and life. She was born in Seattle, raised in the Central District and now at 77 years old has lived on its streets for almost 30 years. Despite the enormous obstacles and challenges that she faces everyday, Ms. Washington's story is hardly a tale of woe. She combats her circumstances with style and a rich connection to culture and others.

You see and learn more about Eva and my journey with her over the last year here.

I have continued to explore solutions to finding her housing. As always, if anyone reading this post can lend a hand, please contact me at annmarie@arttrek.com. Eva lives on a small social security payment from her many years of office work; she has no interest in public housing and does not take any form of public assistance. She is a proud woman who would most likely be honored in some societies. In ours, sadly, she cannot find a home. Her dream is to go to Africa.

Angry faces of resistance

I went along today with Dave Hirning, one of the local leaders of MoveOn.org. MoveOn was supporting the 34th district's town hall on health care. Several hundred people turned out in support of health care while only 4 showed up to oppose. Are we really going to bow down to what appears to be crazy people or hired actors when it comes to our future with health care? More photos here

Eva's still out there

Living on the street more than 30 years now, Eva Washington hates the word homeless and I have learned to use her preferred word "casual" instead. She has also taught me not to ask her how she is, it is a meaningless greeting to her. It's summer now but I dread the coming of another fall and winter, for her. She claims that she can make it fine. But I still cannot believe that. The system has no place for her and she has no place for the system which has turned away from her most basic needs. Any decision which is not hers is greeted with fury and so I often remain silent these days.

I have decided to catalogue her dozens of outfits, maybe 50 plus in all which each include a unique hair treatment. The outfits are housed in a storage unit which costs her exactly half of her social security check. She did the right things in life and always earned her way until she began to age and inflation, the cost of living began to skew heavily against her. Eva cannot seem to grasp that her labor hasn't earned enough for her to live and rages against the "rent equation" as she calls it. She describes this outfit as "the zebra." We met at Seattle Center last night and this was photographed in the square above Fisher Pavilion.

If anyone reading this post has a meaningful idea to help this 77-year-old woman find a place to live, please don't hesitate to contact me. After photographing Eva for almost a year, I have to admit that I am beginning to despair. Every suggestion is met with resistance either by her or the social workers I have talked with. Somehow I hope to find an answer which I know must go beyond merely a financial solution. It is not only funding she needs but compassion and understanding. Last night she told me she is thinking about the possibility of adding to her income by modeling for local art schools. I know she would be great at it.

Long Shot at PCNW--an exhibit and update

As I posted a few weeks ago, PCNW did a 24 hour shoot, inviting photographers to shoot Seattle beginning June 16. Night Flight, my photo above shot in White Center, will be part of the exhibit and fundraiser on July 16.

Help this great photo institution grow and thrive. Join us.

Long Shot at PCNW--a Seattle photographic event

More images from my Long Shot here

On June 16, Photo Center Northwest invited the community of photographers in Seattle to go out and shoot for 24 hours. Part fundraiser and part photo challenge, the event brought all kinds of folks out beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. and continuing until the next day. The first evening I met up with Lisa Ahlberg and Seth Thompson. We ended up at a rail yard, shooting into the lights while huddled underneath an overpass to get out of the falling rain. My friend Kate Bordwell was in from Arizona and acted as our trusty assistant and lookout.

The next day I shot at the beloved Fremont Parade for a most of the day. The event will be celebrated on July 16.