Oct. 27 - Dec. 3, 2017

Willie Baronet
We are All Homeless

Signs of Humanity highlights 22 prints of signs drawn by people enduring homelessness in the United States. This collection is a subset of about 280 placards that were purchased by artist Willie Baronet over 31 days and across 24 cities. Beginning in Seattle and ending in New York, the cross-country journey took place throughout July 2014, as part of a greater project he’s been working on since 1993, titled We Are All Homeless. Recorded in the internationally recognized documentary Signs of Humanity, this exhibition of the same name features poignant signs Baronet bought and stories he collected from homeless people across cities like Portland, Albuquerque, Detroit, and Baltimore.  

     Over the past 24 years, Baronet has collected about 1,300 signs and conducted just as many impromptu interviews. Beginning out of his personal discomfort with the homeless, this project has since developed from a hobby into a social advocacy platform to rid of the stigmas associated with homelessness.  Baronet says he uses “the signs in art installations hoping to raise awareness, compassion and start conversations about the many causes of homelessness. This journey has helped [him] see that there is no us and them. It's just us.”

     Calling Louisiana home, Baronet received his Master of Arts in applied arts from University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Later selling his advertising design firm after 15 years of operation, Bayonet obtained his Master of Fine Arts in arts and technology from University of Texas at Dallas. Baronet now teaches classes at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts. He was recently awarded the Stan Richards Professor of Creative Advertising at SMU's Temerlin Advertising Institute.