Textile Rug / Social Bill

Project for the realization of textile materials (clothes) obtained from the interaction with marginalized social groups that, in this case, concern the floating population of the city of Los Angeles, CA

I specifically took as a starting point the downtown streets of the city, an area called Central City East, better known as Skid Row, a place that has an estimated floating population of around 10,000 people sleeping on the streets or in shelters nearby, it is noteworthy that Skid Row is located a few blocks from the financial district as well as the historical center of the city, which has different government offices, it is a “forgotten” territory that brings together a growing population of people linving in street conditions.

The procedure for the recovery of material was to barter as I approached each person and asked if they wanted a clean shirt, if the answer was positive I asked for their used shirt in exchange, many refused for different reasons as they liked their shirt better or did not want to take it off.

I built a loom and made the five rugs out of each persons’ shirt, I decided not to mix them so to give them some individuality. It’s important to me that each of the textiles remain impregnated so to keep their history before they have been transformed into another object used as a rug.

To me it was important to return the rugs to the city of Los Angeles and place them in the public space of the city and put them to the test and place them in front of some buildings that represented political, economic or cultural power, as a first approach they have been placed and photographed in the following areas:

* Los Angeles City Hall
* Los Angeles Police Department
* Los Angeles Times
* Us Bank Tower
* The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center