Artist Lisa Mann, “George Wilson: Home (more-or-less).” Completed in 2003, updated in 2023. Grocery carts, steel, vinyl decals, audio clips. City of Pasadena, CA Rotating Public Art Program: Series IV. Pictured by the author with a tree nestled within the sculpture on Monday, January 13, 2025.

Over the years, I have regularly driven north from the ELAC campus to Pasadena’s South Lake Avenue, noticing a space a few blocks south of California Blvd that has exhibited public art (Sidney F. Tyler Park). An older piece was removed to leave a vacant space with a sign announcing new public art, and then this beautiful gold sculpture composed of shopping carts mapping the City of Pasadena was installed. Not until Monday, almost a week after the Eaton fire began, did I stop and take a closer look at this work by Lisa Mann that a tree with many small branches had enveloped.

In taking a closer look, I learned that this sculpture, titled “George Wilson: Home (more-or-less)” is a testament to an unhoused man who Mann interviewed some time ago and marks places in the City of Pasadena where resources are available to unhoused people.

Today there are so many people in Altadena, Pasadena, and greater Los Angeles that are unhoused due to the fires, and experiences of homelessness now resonate with many more who are faced with uncertainty and loss.

Scanning the QR code on the label in front of the sculpture with a smartphone takes one to Mann’s website where audio recordings of her interview of George Wilson from 2002 appear along with additional information about the project, and the Pasadena Rotating Public Art Series IV (accessed January 15, 2025: https://www.lisa-mann.com/george-wilson-home-more-or-less.html).

A visual cultural studies approach to this example of public art would center around the question of what action could be done as part of this artwork to help people like George Wilson? Being unhoused in Pasadena is the subject of the work, but in using his story and elevating being un-housed as a subject, how does this example of public art serve the unhoused population of Pasadena? Additions to the website, such as a link or information for donation opportunities could be provided; part of the Pasadena Rotating Public Art Series IV budget could go to providing financial assistance to one of the organizations listed on the website; and there could be a statement paired with “Organizations included on the map” that if one is interested in volunteering, donating, or wanting to learn more about how they can help, to please contact one of the organizations listed below.

Today, on Good Day LA, Bob DeCastro visited Hope the Mission in North Hills and during his interview asked: “For folks that are worried that they are going to bring stuff here and that it’s just going to somebody else or some other thing, what’s your message to them?” A representative replied: “No Donation is going to go to waste…so for everything that comes in, first and foremost we’re offering to the fire victims, but on top of that we have partner agencies, charities that are running out of their supplies that we are shipping pallets to, and then on top of that we have a network of shelters for people who are already unhoused, over 2700 people live with us on every single night that we are providing for…” (accessed January 15, 2025: https://www.foxla.com/video/1577246).

You may donate to Hope the Mission by visiting their website at https://hopethemission.org/. Also, the Emergency Network Los Angeles is a local organization founded in 1996 with over 50 nonprofit members and government partners where you can locate more information on Donations and Getting Involved: https://enla.org/.