Artistic Perspective of Homelessness

 

             When you see a dandelion, do you see a flower? Or a weed?

 

            Or, perhaps, as happened a couple weeks ago when I was walking along a sidewalk on my way to a movie, you step over a dandelion without seeing it at all.

 

            Dandelions are a lot like the homeless. Perspective is everything.

 

            Along with about 200 others attending “Summer at the Oscars,” a fundraiser held by the nonprofit Ventura County Housing Trust Fund at the historic Camarillo Ranch, my perspective was brought into a sharper focus.

 

            My vision, however, was briefly blurry. Watery eyes will do that. Watching “Inocente” will do that.

 

            “Inocente,” which earlier this year won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short, is the best film of any length and genre I have seen in years. It is “Rocky,” only grittier; “Cinderella,” only more magical. It is 39 minutes of hard-to-watch reality with a happy ending.

 

Inocente Izucar, the teenage subject of the film, had a physically abusive father who beat her with extension cords. After escaping his torment, Inocente and her mother and three younger brothers lived a nomadic existence on the streets of San Diego. They slept in homeless shelters and crowded motel rooms. This was on good nights.

 

 “I don’t think children should have to wake up in the park,” Inocente says, knowingly, in the film.

 

The truth is, too many children do wake up in parks. And in shelters. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, 1 in 45 children will experience homelessness during their lives. That is nearly one child per classroom.

 

This includes 4,000 kids locally, according to the Ventura County Office of Education. You might never guess which children; Inocente says she was able to keep her hardship a secret from schoolmates.

 

More perspective: 3.5 million people experience homelessness in the U.S. annually and more than 1.6 million of them are children. In California the figure for homeless kids is 226,000.

 

By any measure it is a huge problem. Countless people and agencies are fighting the good fight, including the Ventura County Housing Trust Fund. But all of our combined efforts need to be redoubled. And redoubled again.

 

Different things can unlock a brighter future for a homeless person: food and shelter, of course, but also counseling; clean clothes for a job interview; access to showers in order to keep a job.

 

For Inocente, the magic wand had horsehair bristles: a paintbrush. At age 12 she enrolled in an after-school program for disadvantaged kids called ARTS: A Reason To Survive.

 

For Inocente, art was a way to thrive.

 

Given her grim background, one might expect her paintings to be dark and foreboding. Rather, they are the opposite – happy and uplifting; hearts and bunnies; vibrant reds and sunshine yellows and brilliant blues.

 

Inocente’s obvious talent was one of the reasons she was selected as the subject for the documentary. Her first big art show, which she earned on merit, is part of the film’s storyline. Thanks to the spotlight of the Oscars, her career has taken off. She has had loftier art shows, including in New York City. Prints of her work typically run $200 with some reaching $1,000. A small original piece she donated to “Summer at the Oscars” sold for $2,000 and was likely a steal.

 

After growing up in a nightmare, 19-year-old Inocente is living her dream as an artist. Her dream of living in her own apartment is also a reality. Like her work on canvas, in person she radiates brightness. She gives you a new perspective of what a homeless person is – and can be.

 

Asked how the rest of us can best help the homeless, besides making donations to worthy causes, Inocente’s answer is simple: “Show them you believe in them.”

 

Taking the same sidewalk back to my car after the screening, the dandelion did not go unnoticed under my foot. This time I saw its yellow bloom and green stalk poking up through a crack. What strength to survive its cement hardship. And what beauty.

 

Indeed, it was not a weed. It was a sunflower by van Gogh. No, by Inocente.

*

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for the Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com or through his website www.WoodyWoodburn.com.