Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal
Category
Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences > Fine Arts > Art History
Received
December 24, 2025
Accepted
April 8, 2026
Published
September 18, 2026
DOI
https://doi.org/10.9741/2766-7227.1037
Copyright
Articles in Spectra are freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly cited.
Data Availability Statement
The author of this article confirms that the information used in the literature is fully available without restrictions.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares that no conflicts of interest exist.
Ethical Considerations
None.
Funding
None.
Abstract
This research explores the intersection of medieval literature and contemporary visual art, focusing specifically on Sandow Birk’s reinterpretation of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. By examining Birk’s illustrated adaptations of Inferno and Purgatorio, this paper analyzes how he translates and visually reimagines Dante’s moral and spiritual journey as a modern critique of California’s social crises, particularly those affecting unhoused populations. It investigates Birk’s recontextualization of Dante’s allegory in relation to the urban decay of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ultimately, this study aims to reveal how Birk’s visual narrative bridges historical understandings of religious and social issues with contemporary experiences of human suffering in the sociocultural landscape of the twenty-first century.
Keywords
Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, unhoused, California, Limbo
Submission Type
Primary research article
Recommended Citation
Williams, L. (2026). From Dante’s Inferno to California: Visualizing the Marginalized in Sandow Birk’s Social Critique. Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal, 5(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.9741/2766-7227.1037.
