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Current Events –– Write-Ups –– Reviews.

The quiet Storms of Reform
Current project from Ben Tecumseh DeSoto

 

 

Our nation’s war on poverty, like our nation’s war on drugs, is remarkable because both problems remain if not the same in breath and scope if not larger now than the at the start.

The current methods are, obliviously, not working.

In 1999, Nan Roman with the coalition to End Homelessness identified these three institutions- foster care, medical care and court system- as contributors to a perpetual underclass that make up our chronic homeless population, a part of our social landscape since the 1980’s.  Part the result of political and business policy changes in the early 1980’s and regressive, putative sentencing laws (Rockefeller laws), our homeless and prison populations are made up of high school drop outs, orphans, the children of orphans and disproportionately suffering from undiagnosed and treated mental and physical illness.   New research has shown a dynamic relationship between chronic homelessness and posttraumatic stress disorders, making homelessness a symptom and not the problem itself. 

This history of institutional failures, personal trauma coupled with the recent economic crisis often called Great Recession, has created an opportunity for a reform movement attempting to save the good of each institution and employ the “more perfect” policies to serve future generations.  The solutions are coming from within and a return to an old way of thinking about providing care.

 

Details will soon be released about a crowd funding campaign to support a timely photojournalism and documentary video project as an independent observer of the reformers, Texas state report to the Legislature and university study.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
UPP Exhibit at the Nave Museum

 

Native Houstonian Photographer Ben Tecumseh DeSoto has created a beautiful photographic exhibit that consists of a collection of photos that allow a closer view inside the daily lives of homeless and poverty stricken people all around Houston.

This exhibit will debut with its opening night on Thursday, July 26, from 6-9PM, hosted at the Nave Museum. This museum is located in the pseudo-conservative city of Victoria, Texas, which is 120 miles from downtown Houston. The exhibit will continue the entirety of that weekend– Friday, July 27 until Sunday, July 29, 12-4PM.

 

 

UPP Exhibit at City Hall

 

Understanding Poverty, a compelling documentary photo exhibit by award-winning photographer Ben Tecumseh DeSoto, will be displayed in the City Hall Rotunda of the City of Houston, November 4-21, 2009.

This installation, recognized as the “2009 Best Art Show in Houston” by the Houston Press “Best of Houston” issue, is composed of a dozen images of homelessness in Houston that DeSoto has photographed over the span of 25 years, including his portraits of two individuals he followed for more than two decades, Ben White and Judy Pruitt.

​UPP Exhibit at Diverseworks Artspace



After many years of documenting life on the streets of Houston, photographer Ben Tecumseh DeSoto seeks to tell the stories of the homeless and working poor, the “broke and the broken,” with his exhibit Understanding Poverty, which will kick off DiverseWorks 08-09 season with an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 19, 2008.



Review Houston Chronicle​



Review Houston Press​



Reviews and profiles.

Night at the Island

Current project by Ben Tecumseh DeSoto

 

The first venue in Houston where Punk Rock music was heard and played was the Island.

From 1978 to 1982, the place was a home away from home for many and part of underground scene.  Butthole Surfers, Black Flag, Big Boys, The Dicks shared the stage with locals Mydolls, Judys, AK 47, The Hates, and many others.  

We are working on a documentary capturing 30 year old recollections book ending a reunion performance at Walters Nightclub,  Saturday night, November 10, 2012.


NEXT INTERVIEW CYCLE is set for  May 25,  2013 at another

Island band night at  

WALTERS DOWNTOWN

1120 NAYLOR ST

HOUSTON, TX 77002

8 Kids, 2 Punk Rock Fans, a Probation Officer & a Dream

 

 

Thanks for the recognition Arts & culture magazine, June 2013 article.

 

 

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