Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Audrey Hope Rinehart

  • unca_faces-21.jp2
  • Portrait of Rinehart posing with a copy of Virginia Wolfe's "A Room of One's Own." She uses this to symbolize the struggle she and her partner have had in trying to find space to live in Asheville with growing rent prices. Rinehart is a native to Western North Carolina, living 30 minutes away from Asheville. She was drawn to the cultural hotspot during visits with her family, and could not wait to graduate high school and move to the city. She stayed for the connections to the artist community, but had plans on moving to Portland, Oregon that year as rising rent, property taxes, and a lack of jobs caused by an influx of upper class people displacing the established, lower class residents.