Art / homelessness
Creating art for Homelessness Awareness Week
Two exhibitions are being held at the Vestibules in City Hall, in conjunction with Homelessness Awareness Week.
The two exhibitions display work by artists who are currently experiencing homelessness or have done in the past. The first collection, titled Homeless People, has been produced by local men receiving support from organisations involved in the Bristol Pathways 1 initiative.
Work of local men experiencing homelessness in the exhibition ‘Homeless People’
The focal point of this exhibition, titled Who Am I, is a collaboration between residents of various homeless support centres in Bristol, including Second Step and Self Help Housing Association.
is needed now More than ever
Brian Gibbs of the Salvation Army’s Homelessness Services Unit explains what lies behind the exhibition: “Within society, we are often presented with numbers and statistics about the issue of homelessness which can cloud the issue and create the impression that there is ‘one group of homeless people’.
“Popular depictions of people who are experiencing homelessness also tend to either focus on substance misuse or dependence on charity, which can make it easy to forget that we are talking about people – real people like you and me who have thoughts, feelings, ideas, fears, aspirations, talent and skills.
“With Homeless People we’re setting out to capture the personalities and individuality of the artists to demonstrate that they are people with life stories as individual and varied as the reasons why they ended up experiencing homelessness.”
The collaborative piece titled Who Am I, on show in the Vestibules, City Hall
The other exhibition, in the second Vestibule space at the other end of City Hall, is presented by Art4Change, an initiative set up just 18 months ago that aims to empower people experiencing homelessness by creating an art piece that draws attention to the issue. The initiative was set up through the Bristol charity Ideal.
They first exhibited in the Arnolfini in December 2016, presenting two wooden-framed houses, one decorated and one left blank, to encourage viewers to leave their thoughts and feelings upon it.
The first Art4Change exhibition was held at the Arnolfini in December 2016
The houses have now returned, along with new pieces. This year, the exhibition specifically aims to raise awareness of the link between mental illness and homelessness. This has spawned their latest project, holding workshops where participants create masks that express their hidden emotions. These can be seen on display hanging from a tree branch in the Vestibules exhibition.
Art4Change help homeless people to create art as a means of self-expression
Both exhibitions run until Friday, March 2 and entrance is free. For further details, visit www.facebook.com/events/1312715518860901 and www.facebook.com/events/582754818737729.
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