A Los Angeles graffiti artist is quietly transforming the city’s Skid Row slum by spray-painting murals around the homeless living there, humanizing their struggles.
The artist goes by the name ‘Skid Robot’ and posts his or her artwork on Instagram, along with brief descriptions of the subjects shown in the photos.
The artwork often elevates the person in the picture, showing their hopes and dreams or depicting them in far-away lands.
Skid Robot paints homes for some, natural landscapes for others, and even spray-paints a throne for one wheelchair-bound man. The artist also shows homeless people dreaming of food, money, video games, Apple products and fancy cars.
According to the artist’s Instagram account, Skid Robot is “an anonymous artist amongst the streets of skidrow, giving to those in need. Creating a dialogue for a solution to extreme poverty through art.”
Skid Robot’s Instagram posts tell stories about the people in the photos, and include hashtags like #FeedThePoor and #HelpTheHomeless.
The anonymous artist has been posting artwork to Instagram since November 2013. Skid Robot’s artwork started with comic thought bubbles to show people’s dreams, but the murals soon progressed to more detailed landscapes.
The artist’s photo descriptions often explain that he or she shared food with the homeless person seen in the photo.
One photo shows a man sitting in a wheelchair in front of a painted brick wall. He’s wearing a white T-shirt, hospital pants and socks, but no shoes. The wall behind him is painted to look like a throne and castle battlements, with a moon, clouds and bats visible in the distance.
“Ben was released from the #hospital with no #shoes,” the caption says. “He was unable to walk as a result of being shot in the back and eventually the hospital booted him on the #street like so many others.” Skid Robot adds that Ben asked for a pencil and sketchbook instead of food.
LoadingBen was released from the #hospital with no #shoes. He was unable to walk as a result of being shot in the back and eventually the hospital booted him on the #street like so many others. I offered him a #meal but he declined, instead he asked for #paper#pencils#pens so that he can #write and #draw. He said he really liked the #art and use to draw himself I had a #sketchbook that was fairly new and a few pens and markers I was able to give him on the spot along with a lil #money so he can eat later...#helpthepoor#feedtheneedy#savehumanity#skidrobot #grimey#dtla#losangeles#streetart
Loading#sept11 has #forever changed the #world we live in. It has led to over a decade of #war, the #economic #destruction of #america and an all out #attack on our rights to #privacy and civil #libirties. I for one have had enough, how bout you?
Loading�� photocred @billkennedyphoto #desperatedreamers#slumdogslumber#grimey#dtla#streetart#skidrobot#skidrow#skidrowart#losangelesstreetart#lastreetart#streetartla #laart#urbanart#modernart#contemporaryart#bumart#losangeles#streetlife#helpthepoor#feedtheneedy#savehumanity
Birdman with art by #skidrobot @skid_robot pic.twitter.com/4Hfo0FAJvI
— maracaseyshoots (@maracaseyshoots) September 7, 2014
