Sarah Gerard

Sarah Gerard | Writer and Collage Artist, Brooklyn, NY

In Residence: November 1st - December 17th, 2016

Reception: Saturday, December 17th, 12-300pm

A multimedia art exhibition led by Resident Artist Sarah Gerard along with student participants from Mi Casa at North High School.

About the Artist

A writer and collage artist from Brooklyn, NY, Sarah Gerard burst onto the literary scene in 2015 with her debut novel Binary Star, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction and appeared on several national Book of the Year lists. Her ascent continues with SUNSHINE STATE: Essays (Harper Perennial, 2017) a stunning collection in which Gerard uses her experiences growing up along Florida’s Gulf Coast to explore intimacy, addiction, identity, religion, homelessness, incarceration and so much more.

Dear Mayor Hancock, What Are You Going to Do? features interviews of individuals experiencing homelessness in Denver conducted by Gerard and her group of high school students. Aimed at catalyzing tangible policy changes to help Denver residents experiencing homelessness find the housing and support that they need to live, the exhibition features news zines for sale, audio and video portraits, and an installation filled with artifacts from the streets.

“Homelessness in Denver is at an all-time high, with the number of homeless individuals in the Denver region increasing by 600% over the last twenty years,” says PlatteForum Resident Artist, Sarah Gerard. “Today, more than 5,500 of Denver’s residents—or 60% of Colorado’s roughly 10,000 homeless residents—do not have a place to call home, and I felt it was important to explore this within the Learning Labs I conducted with my students over the course of my six-week residency here in Denver.”