Kathleen Tunnell Handel
Artist Statement
As housing insecurity and evictions surge, and predatory equity investors swarm in, Where the Heart Is: Portraits from Vernacular American Trailer and Mobile Home Parks investigates this besieged housing-form. My ongoing advocacy project challenges the ingrained stereotyping of the 20 million Americans who live in such housing, as well as of mobile homes and their communities.
Home’s exteriors are presented as portraits revealing the personalities of the unseen residents or are constructed into typology grids archiving differences and commonalities. Observing, collecting, and codifying are imbedded in my creative process and have been my lifelong way of engaging with the world.
