Prince William’s Homewards Programme and Eleven Eleven Foundation present Homelessness: Reframed a groundbreaking exhibition utilising the power of art to help improve the nation’s understanding of homelessness and inspire optimism that it can be ended.
‘Homelessness: Reframed’ will open at Saatchi Gallery on Wednesday 7th August and run for six weeks until Friday 20th September.
Featuring works from renowned artists such as Marc Quinn, Rankin, Philip Colbert, and Simone Brewster, alongside graffiti artist Opake, spoken word poet Surfing Sofas, mixed media artist Robi Walters, and more, this exhibition offers a powerful platform for those directly affected by homelessness to share their stories through art.
The exhibition will bring to life the breadth and complexities of homelessness across the country and give the public an opportunity to engage with, and better understand, the stories of those with experience of homelessness.
The exhibition will also include pieces created by children and young people at a series of creative workshops held across the six flagship Homewards locations.
Why is changing perceptions about homelessness important?
In the UK, over 300,000 people, nearly half of whom are children, are experiencing homelessness. This issue encompasses a spectrum of experiences, from sofa surfing and street sleeping to living in cars, hostels, or other temporary accommodations. Despite the relentless efforts of the homelessness sector, this crisis persists due to a lack of comprehensive collaboration and a focus on managing rather than preventing homelessness.
Research conducted by Homewards’ partners shows that most people only recognise street homelessness or don’t know much about the realities of homelessness in the UK at all.
A third of the general public wrongly assume that those who are homeless have been homeless before. Inspired by these findings, Homewards worked with partners to create an immersive way to challenge perceptions during the peak month for tourism and culture in London.
The exhibition
Homelessness: Reframed is divided into three parts. The first, Invisible Words, curated by Wendy Abrams, Co-founder and CEO of Eleven Eleven Foundation, features a poignant collection of signs created by people experiencing homelessness worldwide. These signs, often overlooked in daily life, capture a range of emotions from shame and desperation to humour and resilience, encouraging viewers to reconsider their perceptions.
In Reframed, artists were invited to create works reflecting their own or others’ experiences of homelessness. Notable pieces include Marc Quinn’s Labyrinth Painting, which uses Lorna Tucker’s fingerprint on an oval canvas to explore human identity and societal connections; Tucker, a writer and director, experienced homelessness over many years. Philip Colbert’s Community depicts his cartoon lobster persona among blossoming flowers, symbolising hope and resilience. Opake’s sculpture and painting Happily Anxious and Holding It All Together… Kinda delves into the chaotic nature of addiction and recovery. Simone Brewster explores the emotional toll of temporary accommodation in her piece Pack Away Desire and Other Precious Things, exhibiting wooden stylised storage boxes that represent the emotional and material baggage carried by those in precarious housing situations.
Alexandria Julouis’ multimedia collage captures the instability of sofa surfing in All I Got, highlighting the transient nature of such living conditions. David Tovey’s sculpture, Home 2013, involved transforming a Peugeot 206 car that he lived in previously into a meticulously hand-welded sculpture of a house. The sculpture symbolises the conflicting emotions David felt during one of the most challenging times of his life: a deep appreciation for the car that became his ‘home’ and kept him alive, contrasted with the anger and sadness about the situation he found himself in. Surfing Sofas presents Spectra of Displacement, a poetic exploration of homelessness, capturing the diverse and complex experiences of those affected.
The final section, Open Doors, showcases artwork created by children and young people from the six Homewards locations. These pieces, developed in collaboration with local artists, symbolise the diverse paths to ending homelessness and highlight stories of hope and resilience. The doors serve as metaphors for the opportunities and challenges faced by those experiencing homelessness, emphasising the importance of community and support.
Participating artists:
Philip Colbert, Dave Martin, David Tovey, Marc Davenant, Opake, Rankin, Robi Walters, Sam D’Cruze, Simone Brewster, Surfing Sofas, Marc Quinn as well as artists from the six Homewards locations -Trevor Loveys, Bruno Batista, Chloé Nicole Farrell, Stuart Peaty, Justin Kouame, Kyle Legall, Charlotte, Nikol DeHaan.
‘Homelessness: Reframed’ 7th August – 20th September, Saatchi Gallery
Free Entry. Pre-booking is not required. Located on the Ground Floor in Gallery 3.
About
Founded by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in June 2023, Homewards is a transformative, locally led programme, that aims to demonstrate that it’s possible to end homelessness, making it rare, brief and unrepeated. Over five years, Homewards is working with six flagship locations across the UK, [Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Lambeth in London, Newport, Northern Ireland, Sheffield] to provide them with the space, tools and expertise to deliver and demonstrate innovative solutions that prevent and end homelessness, creating tried and tested models that can be scaled. Inspired by success stories in countries such as Finland and innovative projects in the UK, Homewards will show that by working together we can change the narrative, galvanise momentum, and drive forward lasting change to end homelessness for good.
The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales leads with the belief that change is always possible, and this positive approach sees it involved in issues that have previously seemed too big a challenge to many. The Royal Foundation partners with the best and the brightest, bringing together groups, organisations, and people around particular issues to create lasting change. Through programmes such as The Centre for Early Childhood, Homewards and United for Wildlife, The Royal Foundation has created partnerships that span the globe, collaborating to make real-world impact and tangible change.
Eleven Eleven Foundation is a private family foundation focusing on sustainability, medical research, and social justice. The Foundation strives to develop programming in collaboration with experts and organisations that are implementing the best and brightest solutions to some
of the most pressing issues facing humanity. The Foundation looks to support those who have the potential for outsized impact that will transform institutions, systems, communities and the planet at large.
Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts thousands of school visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity, beginning a new chapter in its history. www.saatchigallery.com
