Tent City In Focus: Photographer's Exhibit Aims To Bring Awareness, Solutions

A Middlesex County woman who spent four years documenting "Tent City," the largest homeless encampment on the Northeast coast that was bulldozed in July 2014, is presenting her images in an exhibit at the Ocean County Artists Guild in June.

Sherry Rubel, who describes herself as a self-taught photographer who grew up in her father's darkroom, began documenting Tent City -- the Lakewood encampment razed after a court battle -- after she was laid off from her job with the Patch.

Her desire was to help raise awareness about homelessness throughout the country, but especially in Ocean County and New Jersey, "which still does not have an adequate homeless shelter system," Rubel said.

She has pushed for a pilot program that would construct "Tiny Homes" to help the homeless, and in 2014 brought a proposal to state Sen. Steve Sweeney's office, which led to bill S2110, the "Tiny Home" Pilot Program, that was reintroduced this year. The bill proposes using "Tiny Homes" as a means to assist as an innovative creative option. Rubel also is the force behind the Revival Village Project. A new "Tent City" has arisen in Howell and she hopes to encourage politicians to consider donating a plot of land to build a "Tiny Homes" Community instead of allowing people to remain in tents in the woods and on the streets, Rubel said.

The Revival Village project "is an initiative for social change where the values of service, sharing, spiritual nourishment, the arts, and a commitment to recognizing each individual’s gifts and contributions offer a model of renewal for the wider society," she said, "through a combination of community life, job training opportunities, tiny home building, the arts and working on the land.”

The opening reception for the exhibit, which will be in Galleries I and II at the guild, is set for Sunday, June 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Rubel will hold and artist talk at 2 p.m. The reception includes wine and cheese and music by Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, who is an American Free improvisation bassist (bass guitar and electric upright bass), composer and conceptualist.

Donations made during the exhibit will go to support the Tiny House Project.

The Ocean County Artists Guild is located at 22 Chestnut Ave, Island Heights.

(An American flag sits by the rubble left after Lakewood's Tent City was bulldozed in July 2014. Sherry Rubel photo)