In March 1991, Catholic Community Services opened the Street Life Gallery, a co-op for unhoused artists in Seattle’s Belltown district. The artists ran the gallery and found it to be a friendly and supportive space. They paid nothing for materials and were able to keep 100% of their sales. Artworks were regularly featured in Real Change, a newspaper produced by the unhoused. Real Change took over the gallery’s administration and finance responsibilities in 1997.

Here, artist Darcy Day, on her hands and knees, uses a T-square to draw a straight edge on an artwork. German shepherd Okie walks by, and other artists gather in the background. Works hang on the walls and screen, and a wooden sculpture sits in the window.

Caption information source: “Home is where the art is,” by M.L. Lykes, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 10, 1997, pages C1, C7.