Untitled Document

Dana Hogstedt • Immersion	In documenting the Fens Park through photography, I set about capturing images of the homeless to document the spaces to which they were relegated as a result of their not being "accepted" park users and members of the civic mainstream. I sought out spaces that the homeless seemed to use most often during the daytime hours as well as the places where it was evident the homeless slept during the night. These areas tended to be sheltered from the sun either by trees or overpasses and were somewhat out of view though not completely hidden. These locations were often what one would call marginal areas of the park, those where the maintenance was lacking, corners of the park where trash and fallen leaves had gathered. These places include the field house as well as areas that are considered risidual spaces, conceptually outside of the usable park in the general public's mind. Such territories include the under and over-passes of the Charlesgate, places lower on the banks abutting the bridges and the areas adjacent to the fragmities. I also attempted to photograph the more blatant efforts by the city to bar the homeless from public spaces such as the use of benches that make it impossible to lie down, and thus impossible to use overnight. My design for the Fens park will attempt to bring thehomeless out of these edge spaces and into the designed spaces that can accommodate their needs while giving them a legitimate place and role in this public park.

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