A new art exhibit by photographer Brittany Powell is called, The Debt Project. It is a series of portraits along with the models’ stories of how they created their debt situation. Powell said she wanted to create a conversation about debt and stop the isolation people feel about it.
Any amount of debt can cause stress and some stories are disheartening to read – such as debts from medical bills and long-term unemployment. However, it is clear that most of the debts were created by various forms of financial illiteracy:
- Basic financial illiteracy – leading to large consumer debt and back taxes
- Student loan illiteracy – leading to an insurmountable amount of debt
- Business illiteracy – leading to a failed business with significant debt
- Homeownership illiteracy – leading to an unnecessary foreclosure and debt
- Car ownership illiteracy – leading to repossession and net worth destruction
If these people had been given an education on financial literacy, they could have been saved from heartache and difficulty. Several of the models recognized that they didn’t know anything about money and a few blamed society. But they all would have been financially better off than they are today with financial literacy.