Artist Statement

HomeSource creates an enormous opportunity for Milwaukee residents to take pride in their homes. After documenting the variety of resources HomeSource offers and digging through LAND’s newspaper archives, the film takes the next step by contacting and interviewing a resident who is a HomeSource member. The short film is an investigation of the member’s experience with HomeSource and what she thinks about the program. The resident, Andrea, was interviewed and juxtaposed with video footage and photographic stills of HomeSource supplies. This method was used so that the interview’s message would create thicker and more in depth feel of the organization. By layering the audio and visual elements, a richer picture of HomeSource could be formed. Unfortunately, since the artist was not contacted with more residents, Andrea is the only member who could voice her opinion about HomeSource. The original plan was to interview many residents, but the lack of willing residents forced the film to focus on one woman’s experience. This focus was not necessarily a negative result. By only focusing on one resident, the film was able to grasp at something more specific than if it had included multiple residents. Andrea presented her unique impression of HomeSource and through her interview the viewer can also glimpse the view of a LAND volunteer as well. It actually worked quite nicely.

The artist aimed to create a media archive which shows how much HomeSource has influenced the Milwaukee community. The media collection includes photographs and video segments of the warehouse, an interview with a resident, and newspaper archives (namely headlines). The headlines were chosen because they could illustrate the past accomplishments of HomeSource and lead the viewer into the interview.

The filming and editing process was a challenge with the hurdles which presented themselves. Well, the filming wasn't so tough since the entire group was present to interview and take pictures as well, even digging through LAND's newspaper archive was alright since Sarah was there too, but the editing was the most difficult since it was a struggle I had to face alone. Perhaps the most cumbersome was the realization that after all the struggle, my computer could not adequately run the editing software, resulting in jerky playbacks and a finished product that was not properly viewed until placed online. This inability to properly view the film before posting resulted in minor nuances which could have been caught and fixed if the computer didn’t react so slowly.

Although it has been a struggle, LAND continues their mission and continues to spread the hope LAND has given the community throughout the years. It is hoped that this presentation does it justice and shows a glimpse of what this heartfelt organization is doing.