# ATTN: Upcoming HnH Project Image Contests Info



## Thorne (Jan 6, 2014)

Oi Oi,

As many of you know I have been building a website related to my Undergraduate Honors Thesis Project, entitled “Houseless not Homeless”. The website is live, but it is still under major construction and many of the links either do not yet work or go to empty pages. The main site URL is: http://u.arizona.edu/~blackpetal/ . The Mailing List is currently open to subscribers and is the only part of the site that is fully operational at this time. The other pages will be popping up one-by-one very soon, and I will post an update when each phase of construction is complete. However, in spite of all of the work that I have already put into building the site (mostly code), it is still rather dull and needs some original graphics and pics that appropriately express the intent of the site and my research, while also complementing and capturing the ‘spirit’ of what it means to be one of the “Houseless”.

Before you read any further, I must apologize for the fact that this post is so long winded, but it is unavoidable. Since I am conducting academic research that involves participation with, and observation of, live human volunteers, I am both ethically and legally obligated to inform you of your rights as a research or other volunteer.

In order to give the website more ‘life’ it needs interesting and attractive graphics. I could have designed my own, but after much contemplation I decided that the site would be more personally connected to my research participants and volunteers if they had some hand in its creation. Also, because I have been housed-up for more years than I like to admit, I feel unqualified to speak for today’s “Houseless wanderers”, or to provide an accurate artistic interpretation of their lifestyle choices in this way.

Besides being nice to look at, you should know that your artwork is also an important part of my research into the language and communication practices of small, marginalized, counter-cultural groups. As a Linguistic Anthropologist I study language, and I have noticed that people often forget that language involves much more than just written and spoken words. We communicate our feelings and intentions to one another without using words with every action, inaction and silent gesture we make, whether we intend to or not. From this perspective, I believe the old adage about a picture being worth a thousand words clearly stands true. This is why I will be asking for pieces of original artwork that expresses the intentions of my research and the HnH site, coupled with your own personal interpretation of life as a ‘road dawg’; good, bad and ugly. I truly believe a person’s artistic vision can reveal far more about a subject, than can be expressed using words alone.

Because the website is hosted by the University of Arizona, I must ask that your submissions adhere to a few simple guidelines that I hope are not too restrictive on your creativity. Otherwise I want you to be as expressive and honest in your work as possible. These necessary restrictions include the use of profanity and offensive language and images, discrimination or hate speak of any kind, and the promotion of illegal or “subjective ” behavior. This does not mean that you cannot use the image of a beer bottle or pot leaf in your work, it only means that you cannot use your work to say something like, “_I think everyone should drink this beer, do this drug, try this thing, blah, blah, blah…_” Nudity is also allowed as long as it is relevant to the site theme and is done in good taste. So, besides these few unavoidable restrictions, I will NOT place any additional content restrictions on your work, nor will I intentionally discourage your creativity any further.

So, to finally get to the point of all this, I am in need of several original, digital images that are to be used on the Houseless Not Homeless Project website, which I plan to remedy by hosting several contests over the next 6-10 weeks. Each of these images will be needed for a different purpose, so for that reason they will each have slightly different design and/or submission guidelines. A few examples of the types of images that I will be asking for include, but are not limited to: a title/header image, a site logo and a participant’s patch.

Each contest will be run one at a time so I do not overwhelm myself and those of you who may want to submit an image to more than one contest. Each individual contest will run for approximately 7-10 days, but can run longer or shorter depending on the number of entries received.

Okay, since this it is a contest, you are probably curious about the prizes being offered. Since this contest is academic in nature, I cannot offer you any kind of financial compensation. However, I can promise you that your contribution will be acknowledged on both the HnH (Houseless not Homeless) website and in the final, printed version of my project Thesis (unless otherwise negotiated). Please note that, in the rare case that any financial or other opportunities arise as a result of any submitted artwork, photos, etc., the artist will be contacted and additional arrangements will be discussed as necessary. AND, in addition to the overwhelming claim to academic fame, I am willing to open up my trading pack, blow the dust off of some of my handmade chainmail chains, and offer them up as prizes for the winning artists. See the attached image to see the complete inventory of chains that I am offering. The winners will have the opportunity to choose from among the chains pictured, which prize they would like to receive.








Get ready, because later this week I will be posting the requirements for the first image. Thank you in advance for your submissions, and good luck.

JLThorne


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