Five emerging artists address questions of human and avian displacement by urban development in the two-part show titled Shelters opening April 17, 2008 at the Luggage Store’s annex in Cohen Alley. The dualities of wealth and poverty along with those of natural beauty and animal habitat devastation in the Bay Area define our experience and make ever present the need to address the social, political, and environmental needs that arise from such vastly different experiences.

Mildred Howard, the organizer and curator of Shelters, has called upon artists Kate Torgersen, Cameron Hockenson, Mario Trejo, Mandi Mutchler, and Laura Boles Faw to work with ideas concerning homelessness and the extinction of native bird species within San Francisco. Howard questions whether we have “once again become oblivious to this problem” of homelessness and the effects of urban development on the ecosystem of our city. By asking five emerging artists to address the interconnectedness of these issues of shelter or lack thereof, Howard reiterates the importance of the artist’s role in working for “social justice, diversity, and political change.”

Shelters, Part I, “the birdhouse project,” will be installed from April 17 to April 24 in the Luggage Store’s annex in Cohen Alley located in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. This urban alley satisfies the need of green space within the city. By addressing both this setting and the plight of various bird species within the city, these five artists point to the necessity of understanding the implications of our actions on the environment and other living beings.