Developer Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards redevelopment proposal is no longer just a hot political issue: It has become a matter of art.

With paintings, photos, drawings, videos, and collages, a new group show, “Footprints: Portraits of a Brooklyn Neighborhood,” spotlights individuals who live in condemned buildings on Dean Street, as well as the streets of Prospect Heights that are threatened by the redevelopment plan. The exhibit, subsidized by a small grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, opens October 12 at Grand Space in Prospect Heights.

“Footprints” gives the 32 participating artists free license to illustrate the transformation of a neighborhood. Artist Donald O’Finn, the proprietor of Freddy’s Backroom & Bar — the central gathering place for anti-Ratner activism — uses mixed media to portray the proposed Brooklyn Nets stadium as a behemoth toilet planted in the middle of a neighborhood for sale.

Artist Sarah Sagarin used paint to portray the spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, Daniel Goldstein, as stone-faced against a blood-red background. “I think she was trying to show that I’m just another human being — a guy who lives in the way of the arena,” Mr. Goldstein said.

The co-organizers of the exhibit say they do not think of the exhibit as politically motivated.

“I’m not taking a stance on the development. All I’m doing is documenting the neighborhood,” a “Footprints” co-organizer, Belle Benfield, who is a portrait painter and printmaker, said. “There are people whose lives have been turned upside down by this and it’s important to shine a spotlight on that neighborhood,” she said.

One of Ms. Benfield’s subjects, born and bred in Brooklyn, has since relocated his family, home, and business to Florida. Another is an 86-year-old who has lived on Pacific Street since 1942. The artist described her subject as “really confused by everything at this point.”

Another co-organizer of the exhibit, photographer Dan Sagarin, shares Ms. Benfield’s hesitation to align the exhibit with any particular agenda. “My personal project was about meeting the people who lived in the neighborhood. But in some people’s art, you can see a clear need for development,” Mr. Sagarin said.

“Meeting people who live in ‘the footprint’ allowed me to move beyond the abstract debate about the future of Brooklyn. I found that this is about how we treat each other. The people I met have been under tremendous pressure and are struggling,” he said.

In the end, Mr. Sagarin said sees the exhibit as simply a space where people can think seriously about the urban issues of community and development. “I really don’t know what’s right or wrong,” Mr. Sagarin said.”It’s a complicated argument.”