GERMANY: German artist wants to return dignity and respect to homeless people with art at their shelter

Record ID: 1538155

  • Title: GERMANY: German artist wants to return dignity and respect to homeless people with art at their shelter
  • Date: 30th August 2008
  • Summary: PAN ALONG BACK OF BUILDING WITH FIRE ESCAPE (SOUNDBITE) (German) KATJA SCHULZE, THERAPIST, SAYING: "Generally speaking, a lot of people here are experiencing more optimism. Looking at them from the outside, they have become more lively, especially through the attention they are getting." ROSE IN GARDEN
  • Embargoed: 14th September 2008 11:24
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVABY2TDKW0ZJL1NHTX7OBDCGR2O
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: German artist wants to restore "dignity and respect" for the residents of a Berlin homeless shelter by bringing art into their lives.
    Berlin artist Miriam Kilali's art is different from the one seen in galleries and museums.
    The main objective of her latest project entitled "Wealth 2"
    is "to give back the feeling of dignity and respect to people who lost everything in their lives."
    Kiliali was referring to the German capital's homeless people, some of whom have found a new home at the "Schoeneweide" shelter in the city's east.
    The inhabitants living here are men suffering from alcoholism who are no longer able to handle their lives on their own.
    "I wanted to give them the impression that they have not been forgotten," Kilali told Reuters Television in an interview on Tuesday (August 26) as workmen were busy putting up wallpaper in one room.
    In another room used to socialise, a chandelier was hanging from the ceiling and nearby, shelter resident Peter Sternberg was working on a battle ship model in his neatly arranged room.
    "Before, it was pretty sad here. The carpets were worn," Sternberg said, pointing to the floor, "and with stains. The furniture I already had, but most of it was second-hand."
    With the assistance of workmen and under the guidance of Kilali, Sternberg was able to choose the colour for his room's wallpaper.

    "It's a lot nicer now, of course. I feel a lot more comfortable here," Sternberg said, who had been living at the shelter for years.
    Therapist Katja Schulze, sitting in the leafy garden in the back of the shelter, said "a lot of people here are experiencing more optimism."
    "Looking at them from the outside, they have become more lively, especially through the attention they are getting."
    The "Schoeneweide" shelter can house up to 30 "chronically ill and alcohol addicted men" who are looked after as part of a social institution which cooperates closely with the city government of Berlin.
    "Wealth 2" is Kilali's second project of this kind, after remodelling Moscow's "Hotel Morfino" homeless shelter two years ago.
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