Portraits of Hope
Habitat Bulgaria invited a group of artists to “translate” the challenges and opportunities of urbanization into the language of art:
- 75% of people around the world lack proper documentation for the land on which they live and are in constant fear of eviction.
- In many countries, women are not allowed to own land or real estate.
- By 2030, the population living in slums is expected to double to 2 billion.
This initiative is part of Build Solid Ground, Habitat for Humanity’s global advocacy campaign for access to housing and housing rights, which aims to build critical understanding and active engagement with regard to the sustainable development of cities and communities, and to promote adequate housing policies.
“To ensure that by 2030 everyone has access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, and that slums are renovated.”
- UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Through the power of art, we wanted to show that every person deserves to have a decent home and to feel protected from threats to their property.
Art is one of the most effective ways to convey complex messages because it aims straight for the heart. The artists were able to talk about the problem without portraying people as helpless victims. They sought to invoke understanding and empathy, not regret. They illustrated not only what was wrong, but also what could be. They depicted the challenges people face through their portraits of hope.
*The campaign was created in collaboration with the global creative studio for social change Fine Acts.
Build Solid Ground exhibition poster free download.
“Home is where the heart is – when you are far away, when you have to leave your home, when you have no home – then you must always keep the warmth inside. Because your home is wherever you are.”
Artist: Albena Tsoneva – Albena Limoni
“Our perceptions for what a home is are different, so I wanted to illustrate the feeling that would make more people connect with the illustration. Certainly, the home is the place where you can connect with your inner child and nurture it to feel protected, happy and satisfied. We inevitably think of games, and more specifically of “tag”. In this game, there was one way in which we managed to pause and defend ourselves – we would create a “house” with both hands, imitating a roof. It is interesting how the idea of personal privacy has penetrated children’s play, reflecting the essential value of having a home. And it is a pity that there are so many people in the world for whom the home is a place of fear and insecurity. Because the feeling that we are safe and secure must be with us wherever we live.”
Аrtist: Ilian Iliev
“I wanted to illustrate the feeling of coming home after a long and difficult journey and how it’s the best place for you. At the same time, this house is fleeting, as if it’s not yours, as if it’s just a dream.”
“What touched me the most was the gender inequality and the challenges of owning a house if you are a woman. The main character in the illustration wears a T-shirt featuring words that are connected to her destiny and the meaning of her battle: home, safety, equality, future. I painted the silhouette of a city in the distance, as a place she is going to and where she will find all the things she believes in and pursues.”
Artist: Desi Baeva
“Every person is different, every nation is different and every home must be personal. At the same time, I wanted the house-shaped man to look like something bigger, like a mountain, like Earth even.”
Artist: Albena Tsoneva – Albena Limoni
“I believe that the world today, more than ever, needs to unlock the qualities it has always carried: empathy, care, tenderness and creativity. For me, the home is an image of a woman embodying both the image of a mother and a friend. While creating this illustration, I feminized the image of the state and its institutions as an expression of hope.”
Artist: Daniela Yankova
“While thinking about the task, the question of the responsibility of the state rang most loudly in my head. Not providing enough housing under various programs and remaining idle when whole families live without electricity or running water is on the edge of playing a game of chance. When it comes to being homeless, or living in conditions that threaten our health, we should not rely on chance as a policy.”
Artist: Sevda Semer
“I illustrated the earth, whose clouds and rain we all share. I merged her image with the state that has closed these lands within borders; the political system that should protect the homeless among us, providing them with cozy housing and hope for development.”
Artist: Denitsa Boyadzhieva
“I thought about how sad it must be not to have something as simple as a home. Which you take for granted when you’ve always had a good life. And how you never realize as a child that the apartment across from yours does not even look like yours. And that the person living there does not have what you have.”
“It was difficult for me to come up with an idea that did not show the visual prejudices we hold about ghettos, the broken windows, and so on, but I still wanted to show something about the uncertainty, the hopelessness, the absurd situation of division. I came up with this image of a house as a cardboard box that can fall apart at the first gust of wind or heavy rain.”
Artist: Sevda Semer
“It was difficult for me to come up with an idea that did not show the visual prejudices we hold about ghettos, broken windows, etc., but I still wanted to show something about the uncertainty, the hopelessness, the absurd situation of division. I came up with this image of a house as a cardboard box that can fall apart at the first gust of wind or heavy rain.”
Artist: Sevda Semer
“I was inspired by the desire of the people working on the project to create an illustration not focused solely on the problem – people living in extreme deprivation, in somber home lookalikes, in fear and hopelessness. And instead to be cheerful, like the smile that each of us can have. And to imagine these people where they have the human right to be – in the protected privacy of their own home.”
Artist: Denitsa Boyadzhieva
“By contrasting between outside and inside, the idea was to demonstrate the primordial peace, protection, quietness and order that the home brings, and that access to this should be a human right for everyone.”
Аrtist: Rozalina Burkova
“For me, what makes a building a home is not the roof and the four walls propping it up, but what happens in the space between them – be it peaceful sleep or a flight of imagination into a dreamy future.”
Аrtist: Teodor Georgiev
“Building a home is one of the most important, difficult, but also satisfying things in this world. It’s like planting and maintaining a garden – it takes time, effort and love, but at one point you are surrounded by abundant beauty and comfort.”
“Against the backdrop of everything that is wrong, I wanted to draw the potential and what’s possible – how things would look if everything was great. I started with the desire to portray the feeling of coziness and tranquility in the home – whether it would be planting flowers in the garden, the joyful expectation of a child you sent to get groceries, or a couple in slippers… ”
Artist: Elitsa Sarbinova
“The house is like a tree. It protects, gives air, life. But you also have to take care of it and water it.”
Artist: Mila Lozanova
“I drew people whose bodies form a house. Thanks to being together and the support they provide each other, even in the most literal sense, they create, resist and manage to keep their home.”
“This is the home from whose roof you explore the stars; the home in whose garden you disappear for hours; the home whose air you fill with the scent of your cooking; the home behind whose curtains you share kisses; the home you often can’t have without the strong hands of a caring community.”
Artist: Denitsa Boyadzhieva
“This is how I imagine a neighborhood – communicative and united. I think this unity helps build not only a home, but a better and rosier world.”
Support Build Solid Ground, Habitat for Humanity’s global advocacy campaign for access to housing and housing rights.
www.buildsolidground.bg
This exhibition was created with the financial support of the European Union. Its content does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union. Only Habitat Bulgaria is responsible for the opinions expressed in it and the information contained therein.