THE TENDERLOIN PROJECT

We will be having the first official show of prints by Sean Desmond from the project on April 9th, 2010 at Medicine Agency in San Francisco. Stay tuned for more details…

From Hypebeast:

This video showcases the collaboration between The Tenderloin Project and San Francisco-based Black Scale, as they release two new tees and a hat from The Tenderloin Project, both welcoming the new Black Scale flagship store. The campaign will help raise money for the Tenderloin Community of San Francisco. Video and photography was done by Sean Desmond.

We are honored to be recognized by White Walls News. Would love to try and show images from the project at their gallery in the future…

From their website:

“We commend Sean Desmond and John Elliot: two San Francisco residents who are taking a stand for the Tenderloin. They view this neighborhood through an artistic filter, drawing beauty out of the gray landscape that backdrops the underbelly of SF society. Their mission:

‘The Tenderloin Project is an ongoing artistic endeavor focused on one of San Francisco’s most marginalized neighborhoods, The Tenderloin. Utilizing the interactive mediums of photography and film, we aim to capture a compelling and honest portrait of this diverse community.’

This video was created using still photographs by Sean Desmond, documenting our very own Tenderloin neighborhood. Take a moment to see things from a new perspective.”

“White Walls Gallery has served as the premier destination for urban art since 2005. Combined with The Shooting Gallery just next door, the 4,000 square feet space is one of the largest art galleries on the West Coast. Named for the plain white walls that serve as the backdrop to art pieces, White Walls aims to do just that: take a backseat to the real focus – the art. (And yes, we have white walls.)

“Owner, Justin Giarla, has extensive experience in the urban art world and his galleries have helped establish many artists’ careers.  Justin also serves on the Hospitality House Art Auction committee where he gives back to the Tenderloin community that houses his galleries.”

www.whitewallssf.com

We were very excited to be featured on the front page of Hypebeast today.  This is a chance for the project to get some serious exposure throughout the world.  We appreciate all of the response that the project has now received as a result of the posting.  In response to some of the comments that have been written we’d like to take the chance to state the following in hopes of clarifying the objective of the project:

The incentive for this project is to engage with The Tenderloin and to interact with members who live in the community; be it on the street, in an apartment or an SRO.  The means by which we are engaging with the neighborhood is through the mediums of photography and film.

We aren’t trying to stereotype the Tenderloin as being a bad or dangerous community, nor are we trying to directly change the community, ie. to take drugs off the streets, or to put an end to homelessness, both of which are undeniable problems that live within the community.  Instead we are trying to take small steps through our project to help shine a positive light on the community and to try and give some of the members a voice, a face, and to share their stories with the world. Ultimately we are trying to showcase the community both creatively and positively, while also remaining honest and objective to what life is actually like on the streets there.

We will be releasing a series of short-documentaries on the website over the course of the next couple months to further share the stories of the subjects that have been photographed as part of the project.

This is a young project and it’s continually re-defining itself as it evolves.  We are now working to put up a paypal account on the site so that people who want to get involved can help contribute to the project.

We appreciate all of the feedback and are inspired to see so many people reacting to the imagery.

Thank you,

Sean & John

We just applied for a grant through the San Francisco Arts Commission to have a variety of photographs from our project displayed in The Tenderloin.  Above is a photoshop mock-up that Sean put together to show how we want our installation to look.

From SFAC website:

“The Art in Storefronts program places art temporarily in vacant storefront windows. Tough economic times have left many storefronts empty throughout the City, and this program encourages an alternative use of storefronts to reinvigorate and celebrate our neighborhoods, improve streetscape conditions, and support local merchants by increasing foot traffic.”

I made this video for my friend Robert who I met through shooting photos in the Tenderloin. He’s going to do the AIDS walk on July 16th while playing his accordion for the entire duration of the journey. John and I are walking in support of him and we want to get a whole posse together for the walk. Shoot us an email if interested in getting involved.  And if interested in sponsoring Robert for the walk you can go to his donation page here,  http://aidswalksanfran2009.kintera.org/aidswaltzaccordion

Thanks,

Sean & John

We were honored to be included in a fundraising event put on by Community Housing Partnership last night. We donated 12 photographs from our project that were showcased in a video presentation that told the compelling story of CHP-SF, “a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that develops and operates permanent housing for formerly homeless people with on-site support services, job training, leadership development and employment opportunities.” (from chp-sf.org)    This is a truly amazing organization and we look forward to working with them in the future as our project evolves. 

 Music by Donny Hathaway.  Story-line directed and produced by: blocshop.

Special thanks to Ben Wilkinson who was instrumental in getting us involved with the night.

“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music — the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.”

Henry Miller

First and foremost, thank you to each and everyone that came out to Bloodhound on Thursday.  It was a truly overwhelming response, and we were blown away with the turnout and support of the project.  Through donations and selling of art prints we were able to raise close to $1,000.  We look forward to the future as the project continues to grow. Here’s a glimpse of what thursday was like…

photos: Sadie Walker

Special thanks to Alexander Spit and DJ Effective for providing a soundtrack to the night.  

Much love to John Lacroix and Rama Mayo of Medicine Agency for helping us design and launch the website.

Big up to Mega from Black-Scale for the love on his blogs.

Thanks to Mike G at Bloodhound for providing the perfect location to host our party at.

Last but not least thanks to Bob Galliani and Sadie Walker for the continued support.