This week marks the opening of a groundbreaking new exhibition that aims to change perceptions of homelessness through art in what one of the curators calls an “exercise in empathy”.Homelessness: Reframed opens to the public on Wednesday at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. It was created in partnership with Prince William’s Homewards programme, Eleven Eleven Foundation and Saatchi.
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00:00The piece that I'm showing here today is Sacha. So Sacha is a very dear friend of mine who
00:18I was introduced to her six years ago. And she is one of the most inspiring women I've
00:24ever met. And we talked about her life and we talked about how she survived on the streets.
00:32She's quite a small frame and she was telling me about how she'd put her jacket on and literally
00:36hide and almost like become invisible on the streets. And then I also asked her if she
00:43had to look back on her life on the streets, what kind of colour was it? And she said it
00:47was grey. It was all very grey but there was an orange, like a warmth, but that was when
00:54she was taking crack because that gave her the warmth that she needed and that was the
00:59only kind of colour in her life. With this exhibition, it's all about the hope and there
01:08is a life outside of homelessness and Sacha is absolute testament to that.
01:14You know, my life was so different to how it was then. And my spirit was absolutely
01:21crushed. And fortunately for me, I've been given a chance, you know, somebody invested
01:27in me and gave me love and believed in me and, you know, all of those things which we
01:34don't think could make such a difference, but actually they really do.
01:37So, with this piece, it's two parts. So, I've taken a part of a future self and a
01:51present self and it can be reversed. So, the way that you see the future, is it big and
01:57bright and your invitation to go in, to live into that? Or is it reduced and condensed
02:02and a lot smaller? And when people find themselves on the streets or homeless, are they able
02:08to see a version of themselves in the future, which is not what they are doing presently?
02:14And if so, how can we help them achieve that? My experience from my childhood, going in
02:20and out of children's homes, being separated from my mum, living with my grandparents and
02:24being fostered and never going back to my family, that wide range of emotions that's
02:30filled up inside me, has really led to me making things where people discard and throw
02:36things away and I want to make it beautiful so that they want it back, which is a reflection
02:41of my early childhood. I use recycled cards and I buy recycled cards and I use some shiny
02:46bits of cards, but I also use cards that people send to each other. So, birthday cards, greetings
02:52cards, Christmas cards, and instead of throwing those away, like making something special,
02:57even if you can't read those messages, I believe that things have memories
03:01and I believe those memories are still in this piece.