Art supports a menu of models that can produce alternative scripts for social, political, and environmental transformation.

- Murray Edelman

Remedy:

• A medicine that relieves or cures

• A means of counteracting or eliminating something undesirable

• A means of legal reparation

What does remedy mean in the context of homelessness? Who is in need of a remedy: people experiencing homelessness, the institutions serving them, or society itself? How can a person in need be cared for without reducing their identity to the very need that impedes their daily survival? What are the conditions of society that need to be remedied and how can art assist to relieve, counteract, or repair these conditions? How can our infrastructures of care be revisited to mitigate trauma instead of contributing to harm, and how can art serve to de-mystify institutional change?

I don't believe art on its own can remedy social problems. Instead, art can assist with a process of un-learning / de-institutionalizing / de-mystifying to provide a menu of models that can help define a new framework through which to consider a social problem. It can offer new perspectives to consider. Art of this kind is stronger when it works in partnership with direct service organizations.

As I begin an artist residency with Elijah's Promise, I am bringing many open questions, ready to embark on a process of learning and unlearning. This partnership starts in midst of a challenging time, as we are still navigating the affects of COVID-19 on ourselves and our communities. 2020 is a year to follow with big changes and big visions but also a sensitivity to slow progressions, planting seeds, and small, manageable steps. A remedy does not only belong to experts and policy-makers. A remedy is also a recipe. It's passed down from family knowledge, it's found with our neighbors, in the kitchen, in the public commons. It's relational and communal.

Jody Wood, 2021