Dominique Moody is an LA-based nomadic artist, who practices Social Sculpture about the issues of housing inequality through visual storytelling both personal and collective.
Image 1: The Art of HOME
My Road to Freedom 2009
Approx. 6″w x 8″h x 12″l,
Cardboard shoebox, vintage metal roller skate,
Raffia, found objects, map collage
Collection of Dr. Joy Simmons
Photo by Santa Monica Museum of Art
Image 2:
Sweat Equity, 2005
approx. 30″ h x 96″”w x 24″d
Salvaged printer trays, corrugated cardboard, scrap wood, branches, glass bottles, corks and keys, paper photo collage, acrylic paint
Collection of the Artist
Photo by Willie Middlebrook
Image 3:
Home Grown, Windows to the Soul 2007
approx. 52″ h x 48″ w x 18″ d
Salvaged vintage wood window, glass, transparency film photo collage, branches, found objects
Collection of the Artist
Photo by Gary Cloud
Image 4 and 5:
House Dreams of an Urban Nomad, 1996
approx. 57″ h x 20″ dia.
Salvaged wood boxes, scrap moulding, tin, found metal nails and keys, paper photo collage and transparency film
Collection of Terry McMillian
Photo by Cheryl Moody
Image 6:
Narrative, Odyssey, Manifesting, Artistic, Dreams
Functional, mobile sculpture, artist residency, 2015, 12’6″”h x 45′ w x 8′ d (total combined measurement) Trailer Dwelling exterior. Layered corrugated patina stained metal. Salvaged SS washing machine doors, dryer door, vintage barn wood, salvaged globe, found metal objects, plexiglass panels.
Collection of the Artist
Photo by Khari Scott, on location at Leimert Park LA
Dominique Moody 2021
I am a nomadic artist, and as an assemblage sculptor my materials are based often on what I find. But in search of objects, I also find stories amongst the things that we discard. And because each object is touched by someone’s life, than I have a responsibility to share those stories as well.
I have moved more than 50 times in my 65 years. While I personally have not had the experience of being unhoused on the street, I have family and friends who have and so I’ve gained great empathy for their struggles for survival. But I also recognize that historically this inequity has also impacted my own life, through housing insecurities and displacement for generations, by racial discrimination and economic gentrification.
As an African of the Diaspora, these experiences have shaped my understanding of the need for this most basic human right.
In 1948, the United Nations created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
…Article 25. Right of social service
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of her/himself and of their family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control…
These are the basic rights that have structured my personal and political consciousness, which has formed my foundation of art practice known as Social Sculpture.
Over the years I’ve grown to recognize that my creativity has always come out of necessity…
From the need to tell my story…
The need to understand…
The need for solutions…
The need to envision a better future…
The need to let go…
The need to be free…
The need to express joy…
The need to connect…
The need to heal…
The need to face my fears…
The need to comfort…
The need to remember the past…
The need to know the truth…
The need to nurture the earth…
The need to be who I am…
The need to love…
The need to fight for justice…
The need to be at home in the world…
Dominique Moody
Nomadic Artist in Residence