One of the world’s most acclaimed artists had a big idea. His name is Damien Hirst. And he thought, I’ll take some of my millions, buy a huge supply of diamonds, and hire experts to make a diamond encrusted skull. And then I will sell it on the market for $100 million dollars. And that’s what happened. The work made an estimated $80 million dollars in profit and provided By the way, we don’t know who the skull originally belonged to. Which is not unusual. There are millions of skulls still dressed in flesh Some of these are called the homeless. There is a secret about the homeless that few may know. They are actual human beings. They have names. They have stories. Mariam Eqbal knows this. She is a young artist in Richmond, Virginia, who began talking to homeless men and women. She wanted to find out who they were. Where did they come from? What are their memories? Their dreams? She attended to their simple human dignity. She listened. She took photographs. And she made illustrations.
A series of large portraits emerged. Then Ms. Eqbal had another idea.
She walked into the public transit authority and showed them the work.
But the materials cost money. She got the money.
And the buses of the city carried the images from street to street. Indeed, we do not know the result of her transmissions. Such expressions sometimes take root in the odd corners of our skulls |