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This work was influenced by a need to confront the homeless crises facing many American cities. I began carving schematics of dollhouses into scenes from Oakland’s homeless encampments to overlap fantasy and reality worlds. As I progressed, I realized that with escalating home prices and the collapse of the middle class, home ownership increasingly is becoming its own fantasy. In American homes 6, examples of Victorian and modern architecture compete for the same space over the homeless encampment, alluding to the flow of time and one mode of understanding overtaking another.

The work is created through a modified 19th century photographic process applied to a traditional rabbit-skin glue and chalk gesso panel. I have turned to anachronistic photographic practices as another way to analyze our culture. With technology at our fingertips, we are lulled into thinking that we have also made progress in societal justice and equity; however, we are still facing many of same struggles.

Francis Baker

francis@francisbaker.com