ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Foreclosure, USA
Foreclosure, USA serves as quiet witness to the Great Recession. In the last three years, the financial distress induced by widespread foreclosures in the United States has become an urgent national concern. There is still much public discourse on how to solve the problem that has decimated communities, threatens the entire financial system and seems to discredit the American dream. Lots of foreclosures, not much closure. Inspired by the Dust Bowl photographs of the Great Depression, the project focuses on the foreclosure crisis in Stockton, California. Stockton has a European history dating back to 1849 and a Mediterranean climate. It is racially mosaic. It has an enviable transport infrastructure by land, sea and air. It is surrounded by farmland and has often served Hollywood as the grassy mid-Western plains. Only a few years ago, Stockton seemed to manifest America in its unreserved sense of possibility and its openness to business. Sadly, it is now better known as one of the epicenters of the foreclosure crisis in America. In the first quarter of 2009, one in every twenty-seven housing units in the area received a foreclosure notice, against a national rate of about one in one hundred and fifty-nine. The current unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. Foreclosure, USA explores Stockton’s foreclosed homes and the abruptly suspended housing developments in its hardest hit neighborhoods. It also documents the “foreclosure industry” and businesses affected by the housing crash. A city that twice received the All America City award from the National Civic League as it converted large tracts of farmland into “homes” can surely teach us much about truly sustainable development. It is hoped that the project will promote dialogue about sustainable economic growth in local communities everywhere and educate us about the real cost of the unquestioned American dream.