14 STATIONS. Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing 1047 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY (212) Copyright 2008 David Michalek

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1 This work was made in collaboration with men and women transitioning out of homelessness and who are affiliates of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing (IAHH), a non-profit organization located at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The project is modeled on the traditional devotional, The Stations of the Cross. Members of the group enacted each Station, with a different man or woman assuming the role of the Christ figure in each. The resulting tableaus were photographed. The oversize blackand-white photographs, mounted on backlit displays, where first exhibited in West Park Church in The full exhibition is presented as town hall style gathering which has several components: Part I: visitors enter the space and browse the illuminated photographs; Part II: panel discussion and testimony (different people are brought in each time policy makers, homelessness experts, scholars as well as homeless individuals in whatever city the work is being shown; Part III: 14 Stations Performance including spoken word by project participants, live piano and projected images; Part IV: food and conversation. 14 Stations has been shown in a variety of cities in the New York State area including a three-month run at Brooklyn Museum (January- March 2005). The 14 Stations Performance was presented by Emmanuel Music in Boston in 2003 and in March 2005, was the subject of a collaborative project with the Brooklyn Philharmonic for their Music Off the Walls series. The work traveled to Yale Divinity School in the spring of The project as a whole has significantly raised the profile of the IAHH, energized it core constituents, and raised money for the organization. 14 Stations has resonated with audiences in a variety of diverse settings not only because it draws attention to the issue of homelessness, but also because of the way in which it features human beings finally rising above their every day conditions. The IAHH is committed to bearing witness to the dignity of all vulnerable people, particularly those who have been homeless, as well as to participate in the development of public policies which will serve to assist homeless people to secure needed social services, affordable housing, education, job training and adequate employment. Some members of the Assembly have developed personal stories of how they became homeless and recovered their independent lives. This group, which calls itself Speakers Bureau, seeks creative ways of finding their voices and presenting these stories to the public in a variety of settings such as schools, houses of worship and shelters. This work was made in collaboration with men and women transitioning out of homelessness and who are affiliates of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing (IAHH), a non-profit organization located at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. 14 Stations was made possible, in part, by funds from the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale Divinity School, the Durfee Foundation, the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, the Jerome Foundation and The New York State Council on the Arts. Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing 1047 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY (212)

2 Station One - Christ is sentenced to death Station Two - Christ accepts the Cross Station Three - Christ falls for the first time Station Four - Christ encounters his mother

3 Station Five - Simon helps Christ carry the Cross Station Six - Veronica wipes the face of Christ Station Seven - Christ falls for the second time Station Eight - Christ encounters the weeping women

4 Station Nine - Christ falls for the third time Station Ten - Christ is stripped of his garments Station Eleven - Christ is nailed to the Cross Station Twelve - Christ dies on the Cross

5 Station Thriteen - Christ is taken down from the Cross Station Fourteen

6 : INSTALLATIONS Brooklyn Museum December April 2005

7 : INSTALLATIONS David Michalek at the Brooklyn Museum Art In America, Oct 2005 by Michael Amy In 14 Stations, his exhibition of large black-and-white photographs mounted in 14 lightboxes, David Michalek raises the suffering of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society to the level of the sacred. People affiliated with the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, a nonprofit organization located at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, reenacted some of their experiences as (former) hom eless individuals to illustrate the 14 canonical Stations of the Cross, tableaux representing episodes from Christ s Passion. These moving performances, a little like medieval Passion plays, were beautifully captured on film in 2003 by Michalek. In each episode, the figure of Christ is embodied by a different male or female, black, white or Latino person, to illustrate what Christians consider to be the universal dimension of Christ s suffering. The actors are dressed in contemporary garb and placed in contemporary settings, thereby attesting to what Christians consider to be the lasting efficacy of Christ s sacrifice. The narratives seem to suggest that the plight of the dispossessed may make greater sense and become more bearable to them once they relive the suffering endured by Christ. In most of the compositions, one or more figures appear in the immediate foreground, cropped and in close-up, thereby bringing the biblical reenactment near to us and increasing our empathy. Witness Station Twelve: Christ Dies on the Cross, in which a young black man, his torso exposed, lies on a blanket with his eyes and mouth partly open and his hands half closed upon his abdomen. Shown half-length, the figure subtly recalls the traditional iconography of Christ as the Man of Sorrows. Michalek perused many such representations from the history of art, although--happily--he never literally appropriates them. The rich tonalities of the photographs add to the drama of the whole, with the lightboxes enhancing their range. The presentation evokes the streets where the homeless live while highlighting their plight. In Station Eight: Christ Encounters the Weeping Women, six figures are arranged parallel to the plane in the middle ground, with a black man as Christ, wrapped in a blanket, sitting in an entranceway in the bottom left corner. Michalek s commiseration with his fellow humans and deep understanding of the history of dramatic figurative representation have enabled him to produce a profound cycle of photographs that effectively treats a religious theme, no easy task in today s art world. COPYRIGHT 2005 Brant Publications, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

8 : INSTALLATIONS Emmanuel Church Boston Marquand Chapel Yale Divinity School