Love is a House
Surprise someone special in your life with a card featuring the artwork titled "Connected Community" created by artists in Triune Mercy Center's Art Room. The card is blank on the inside and ready for your message. You'll also get a copy of mOody bLaCk's original poem "Love is a House" written for GHA in celebration of this art collaboration. Stop by GHA's office at 606 Pendleton Street to pick up cards for a tax-deductible donation of $5/card.It is said that love is a house
If so, there are so many people that need love…
Need a house
Need shelter
The type of embrace that offers a space
So, love is a residence
A warm abode
Stretched arms reaching out to give a hug
Just so one could have a semblance of home
But if you see someone sleeping on the street…that’s not home
That’s not what love looks like
It seems hostile to have to beg to have a hostel…
A roof over head…
Instead…many are left without lodging
How is it that we are in a land leaving many to live with a lack of love?
But all we have to do is to care in order to construct a community
Find a lot to pour love into
Create a crew…
A support system to lay foundation
Install footing by just taking a step to heal this land
You can only build with this frame of mind
Cause someone without “love” is only trying to see compassion through the windows of your soul
Just so they can know someone out there cares
Thus, giving a sense of love
A sense of home
That’s how you open doors
Because we are the keys
We provide the warmth…the insulation
We make the village
We make the nation
We just have to believe!
And all we need is a square footage of faith
It’s never too late
Question…
What if we really could paint a happy home?
What if we really could give everyone a house?
We could actually create a kingdom of kindness
A community of caring
And all we need to do is help those in need find love
It is said that “love is a house”
And if this is true…
Then, EVERYONE… needs… love!
By mOody bLaCk
“Connected Community” artist statement from artist and volunteer Rebecca Constantine
(Acrylic with paper collage on canvas)
For the past four years I have been a volunteer in the Triune Mercy Center art room, where Greenville area community members are welcomed and inspired to explore their creativity and express their lived experiences through art. Earlier this year, in partnership with GHA, art room participants were invited to consider the question "What does home mean to you?", and to paint a wooden house in response.
This project breathed fresh life into the art room, attracting dozens of people who may not consider themselves artists, but found they had a lot to say once a paintbrush was in their hands. I loved coming in each week to admire the growing collection of brightly colored houses. Some were decorated with messages of hope for the future or fun memories from the past, while others expressed gratitude for the shelter and comfort of having a place to call home. Some honored family members whose presence gives a sense of home more than any building ever could. A few expressed grief, loss, hardship, and regret with a vulnerability that deeply moved me. All of them told a story.
I was inspired by these stories, and the people who carry them, to create an image of a connected community, a neighborhood of these little snapshots of life. Photos of the houses were cut and pasted onto a painted background of rolling hills which bring to mind both the foothills of this region’s landscape, as well as the dynamic and ever-changing nature of challenges around housing and socioeconomic inequities within any community.
The houses were positioned so that each one is touching at least one other house. None are floating about, disconnected, cut off, or forgotten. This is my hope for Greenville, and beyond. That no matter our differences, we would notice- and nurture- our connections to each other, and to build communities that refuse to leave anyone out.
Learn more about facing homelessness and sharing hope at https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/. Contact the Greenville Homeless Alliance to purchase the “Connected Community” Honor Card.