We are half-way through the first-ever Imago Dei Art Exhibition. Check out some photos from our first who Art Shows at Sweet Palette and a Woodpecker’s Game. Our hope and prayer is that this is far from the end of this endeavor.
For anyone who is unfamiliar, Imago Dei means that all people are created in the image of God. All people - no matter their ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, religious, or political beliefs, etc. - deserve to be treated with love, respect, kindness, and dignity. It’s very easy for us to subconsciously or systematically disregard this belief. We (wrongly) think there is an ‘other,’ someone who is less human than we are.
The homeless are an easy target for this dehumanization. Maybe we think we are somehow better, maybe we are afraid or uncomfortable when they approach us, or maybe we feel impotent when we cannot or don’t know how to help then and there.
The purpose of the Imago Dei Art Exhibitoin is to create awareness and raise money to care for Fayetteville’s homeless population. We are not so self-aggrandizing to think we will solve all of the problems of Fayetteville’s homeless, but we do hope this keeps the conversation moving in healthy directions.
When we are talking about the homeless population, we are not talking about one homogeneous group; there are situationally homeless - someone has lost a job, gotten kicked out of their house, came out of prison, or something like that, and they have nowhere to go. There are also chronically homeless, this is defined as someone who has been without a home for more than a year. A chronically homeless person has many crushing life barriers that have stacked the cards against them; most have experienced serious trauma and abuse, many have serious mental illness and substance abuse problems.
No matter the circumstances that have gotten them into homelessness, these are people with thoughts and feelings. Some still have hopes and dreams, but many have been struggling and suffering for so long, that their mental space to dream and hope has been drowned out by near-constant fear and crisis. Many have created their own social networks with other homeless and look out for each other in their own ways.
I say all of this to give us some frame of reference that the problems of the homeless are so complex and tangled. It takes a great deal of time, resources, and patience to make a difference. I have the honor of serving on the Board of Directors of Operation Inasmuch, which exists to be the hands and feet of Jesus among the broken, hurting, and homeless by offering relief, recovery, and restoration of hope. If you’re reading this, there is a chance that you’ve served breakfast to the homeless through their morning breakfast ministry. This is the heartbeat of the organization and has been for over a decade. This breakfast ministry is the foot in the metaphorical door with the homeless to offer other relief services like sick call, showers, glasses, haircuts, etc.
Operation Inasmuch also has The Living Hope Program run thorough the Lodge. This is transitional housing for men who want to make meaningful change and get out of homelessness permanently. The men living within the Lodge take classes - everything from art to character development, bible study to group counseling. This Imago Dei Art Exhibition was born out of the art and photography classes led by Christian Prince, the Lodge Assistant Director, as well as Ray Im, a professional artist within Fayetteville. Any art, designs, or work purchased through Imago Dei Art is a 50/50 profit share; half the profits are given directly back to the artists. Many of those artists are the guys in the Lodge, working hard to rebuild their lives and get out of homelessness. We have professional artists who wanted to support the cause also contributing pieces. The other half of the profits goes back into running the Lodge and the Living Hope program. They go toward paying the amazing staff, running the facility, providing food, and various other opportunities to the guys there.
Our next Imago Dei Art Show will be this Friday from 5-7p, at the Cape Fear Studio (1148 Maxwell St, Downtown Fayetteville) for the city’s Fourth Fridays. There will be other happenings, so come down and enjoy the environment! Also, please check out our website; it’s been designed and executed by an amazing team of designers from Nepal!
** Photos generously provided by Kori Frazier Photography
