People In My Neighbourhood

Being a woman of a certain income, I have always lived in what may be classified as the undesirable areas of the city: the “bad neighbourhoods”.

View images of this series.
In this instance, I am suggesting that “neighbourhood” is not only a physical, geographical environment, but also a mental or psychic location where we house the many facets of ourselves – the different “individuals” who make up the community of our internal “neighbourhood” – that constitute our whole-self identity.

The People In My Neighbourhood series introduces a dozen stereotyped individuals that I have lived in close proximity to and/or have personally identified with. At different times in my life I have worn – physically, emotionally, or mentally – the uniform of all of the People In My Neighbourhood: minimum wage laborer, whore, forgotten, mentally ill, artist, addict, etc.

The identical coveralls that the figures wear imply the interchangeability of the roles we play within our exterior/interior neighbourhoods, and at the same time suggest the desire for those individuals located outside the neighbourhood to classify those within it. Despite minor differences in appearance, the only real differentiating factor between figures is the nametag on the coveralls: a label clearly defining the position or role that the individual is expected to play.