The final project that Sam, Ryan and I are working to create originally sought to provide a closer look at the situation of the homeless here in Provo. We wanted to investigate how their trying life circumstances influenced their beliefs, as well as how they managed on a day-to-day basis. We felt it would be interesting to learn about a homeless person’s connection to Mormonism, whether through personal history or interactions with members on the street.
Unfortunately, our encounters with the homeless have not gone well during this project. On Tuesday we approached a man on the corner of Center and University and received an earful about how the CIA and Secret Service have been ruining people’s lives for years. The man offered veiled threats about the people he has killed; he was obviously not in a state of mental health to respond to our questions, and explicitly refused to be interviewed, due to the government’s crackdown on him personally.
This experience, combined with our lack of many possible alternates, caused us to reevaluate our project goals, which resulted in a change of topic. Talking with this man on the street corner, however, gave me some personal insight into the conditions in which the homeless have to struggle. I felt compassion for this man, even as he was talking about the latest men he has killed, because he was suffering from mental instability and likely had no other options at the time than to be homeless. Had he consented at that time to let us interview and film him, we would have needed to ensure that we treated him humanely as a subject. Many of the things he said were false, but that would not allow me to discount his belief in them, which was obviously vigorous.
I feel like this final project helps to illustrate my goals as a Mormon artist by portraying the charity we should try to have for other people. Not to say that I’m fantastic at respecting everyone I meet, but this experience helped me self-reflect a lot more about how I would want to portray someone with the issues this man was facing. As a member of the Church, I feel as though I have a duty to highlight the good in the world around me, as well as to strive to change situations for the better. My influence can be positive or negative, depending on the manner in which I portray subjects and the topics I choose to address, and I have to make sure that my work is conducive to the Spirit, which is an important consideration as we move forward with our backup plan.
The collaborative process of this project has helped me further understand the need for interaction with other creative minds and the pooling of talents and abilities; I can imagine few situations in life where my abilities will suffice for entire situations. Everyone has something to contribute in a positive way, and as I move forward with the program, it will be important for me to remember how much I both need the support of my peers and need to support my peers. So that’s gotta be my goal…
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