Dallas Clayton is an all round creative cat, fun loving kind of guy.
He’s an author, illustrator and mural painter and endeavors to promote positivity in all his work. Recently he painted a mural in Silverlake California with the instruction: “Stand here and think about someone you love”.
The mural was a complete success on social media with hundreds of images shared on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
But one photo of the piece is causing a massive stir online.
Snapped and uploaded to Facebook by Rich Michahlowski, the photo shows a young woman posing in front of the mural, ignoring a slumped homeless man to her side.
Really?
Posted by Rich Michalowski on Sunday, 6 March 2016
Many commenters condemn the girl for ignoring the man while some merely state the irony in the unfortunate juxtaposition of a happy tourist and the struggling man.
Dallas Clayton took to his blog to speak about his disappointment around the reaction to the image.
He writes:
“I hadn’t planned on posting anything about this photo because I didn’t want it associated with me or mistaken for anything I support but after receiving a ton of notices and doing an interview with the Daily Mail it would seem that this photo and all it represents have gone viral. While I wish my mural had gotten to make its rounds on a more positive note, I’m glad that this photo is stirring a dialogue and hopefully enlightening some minds.
“Homelessness is a systemic issue that very few organizations and governing bodies seem to have a good handle on developing a holistic solution to. It’s unfortunate that we live in a world, country, state, and city with so many resources and so much potential for progress, yet we still allow people to go without basic needs such as food and shelter. I appreciate that this photo is shining a light on the disparity between the haves and the have-nots, but honestly if it takes this photograph for you to realize that this disparity exists I don’t imagine you’ve been paying attention to society as a whole for the past fifty or sixty years”.
In retaliation, Clayton vows to print the images and donate the proceeds to a homeless organization.
“The woman in this photo had connected more with the intention of the mural itself, which was to offer a moment of pause to reflect on what it means to love someone else, to create empathy and bring us closer together as a people. So in the spirit of thinking about those we love, instead of talking about this woman and her (hopefully momentary) disgusting ineptitude can we instead focus on well-researched links to local organizations who are offering their best efforts to fight the uphill battle to help end homelessness in Los Angeles and worldwide.”
“I’ll be posting new prints this week, and donating 100% of the proceeds to whichever homeless organization you guys think would benefit the most. It’s not a solution by any means but hopefully a step.”
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