‘Conversation is the simplest and most effective way to help others’

Yoke Music’s audio-visual project about homelessness was inspired when conceptual artist, Beau, asked him to create the score for his exhibition on the issue, which began touring the UK in January 2018.

Having experienced homelessness himself, the artist, who prefers to be known as Yoke Music, felt compelled to record something visual to compliment his soundtrack to Beau’s exhibition Outdoors. The exhibition took ten doors Beau placed around Bristol for nine months and put them galleries across the UK, eventually to be auctioned off. All of the profits raised were given to homelessness charities.

Beau’s original artwork placed doors, representing the safety of home, around the city before exhibiting them in galleries across the UK

“On a personal level, being asked by Beau to contribute my work to such a meaningful project felt great. Beau was very complimentary and expressed how much he loved my previous work,” Yoke Music told Bristol24/7.

After the Somerset-based musician completed the soundtrack, based on locations in Bristol that had inspired Beau, he was compelled to set the music to images and experimented with visual creations that ultimately became the first of his Proximity Bristol series. “The visual element came later,” Yoke Music says. “When you create a score based on a city, you are without doubt inspired by its surroundings. Quite simply, there is a truth within Proximity Bristol that I merely unlocked the door to.”

The issue of homelessness was one close to Yoke Music’s heart, having experienced homelessness in his early twenties. After leaving foster care, he flitted between sleeping rough and staying in temporary accommodation for almost a decade. Once he secured a space at Southampton Solent University to study music and record production, the composer was able to improve his situation, but says he is frustrated that rising tuition fees and lack of funding means this route out of homelessness is narrowing.

On continuing Proximity Bristol, the musician says: “My aim throughout 2018 is to create a series of audio-visual experiments from sounds captured in areas with the highest rates of homelessness. I want to grow a community project based on inclusion and in doing so I hope to create a dialogue and raise awareness about the homeless crisis in the UK.”

Photography for Yoke Music’s next project by Mengqiong Zhou, who also provided the field recordings captured in Proximity Bristol

Yoke Music advocated an open conversation around the issue: “Conversation is the simplest and most effective way in which anyone can help others. By taking the time to acknowledge and communicate with people, we’re able to gain a deeper understanding on what’s important to those around us. Fundraising and volunteering are also accessible ways to engage in your own way.”

This echoes the words of artist Beau, who inspired Yoke Music in the first instance. In an interview with Bristol24/7 earlier this year, Beau said he hoped to create an original conversation through his work: “I use art as the language to communicate to the community and increase awareness around the topic of homelessness. I think can start this conversation.”

Find out more about Yoke Music’s Proximity Bristol project by visiting www.chalehouseproducti.wixsite.com/proximitybristol. Listen to his work at www.soundcloud.com/yokemusicuk