Summer Installation Concept

Research 

  Vagrancy Act - which currently makes it illegal to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales.

 Gillian Wearing - Homelessness

Whilst thinking about signs and what I would want them to say and wanted to look through one of the most famous "sign" pieces of photographic work which is Gillian Wearing's "Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say". This work explores the relationship between our outward selves and our more private thoughts. 

Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say, 1992-3

"give people houses there is plenty of empty one's, OK!"

"i signed on and they would not give me nothing"

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/gillian-wearing-b-1963-i-signed-5780667-details.aspx

I looked through the collection of images and found these two photographs of people living on the streets inner thoughts about their situation. The words are powerful and when accompanied by a face hits even harder. When do people ever sit down and speak with someone on the street? Do we ever stop to consider that they are also people with emotions and thoughts? Unfortunately, most people do not. Gillian Wearing gave these people a voice through the media of photography where we cannot hear but observe much like we do when we see homeless people on the street.  

I found out that the company Crisis had an exhibition at Somerset House in 2012: artists such as Gillian Wearing, Tracey Emin, Nathan Coley and many more created pieces of work around the subject of homelessness for the charity. 

Wearing created a realistic miniature bronze sculpture of ex-military man Craig O'keef who was made homeless after returning from war in Afghanistan. Arming the statue with her iconic piece of paper with writing on it, states "Served in Kabul Afghanistan" Accompanied by a gold plaque about O'Keef.
 With help from Veterans Aid he got the help he needed and now helps as a tutor for Crisis. 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/mar/12/homeless-art-crisis-commission-in-pictures

Sam Wolson 

This life I lead, 2007-12

I took interest in this artist who continued and created a relationship with his subject Shanon Fulcher living in LA belonging to crime gang The Bloods. Over the space of three years Wolson documented Fulcher's life of living on the streets, drug addiction, prison sentence and rekindling relationship with his daughter. All of the images are in black and white which I believe focuses you more on whats happening in the image and combined with some fantastic lighting, captures an emotional and compelling series. 

There are many exciting things about this image, the tones created by the lighting are rich. The lack of punchy whites creates a soft look which helps to lead your eyes around the entirety of the image. The low angle amplifies the volume of the area the man is staying. The curved mattress in the foreground establishes a different shape from the straight lines of the other mattresses, which is used to frame the small face poking out from the blanket. 

I would love to be able to find some of the people I had previously shot and keep going back to photograph them throughout the year as I go back to Milton Keynes. 

http://samwolson.com/

Maxwell Rushton

Left out, 2016

In 2016 Maxwell Rushton created a very controversial installation piece of art on the issue of homelessness in the UK by exhibiting a life sized man tied up in a bin bag and put on the streets. He stood by and watched people walked right past, some people stopped to check and one man said to have aggressively ripped open the bag, he had to be calmed down by the artist himself. I find this piece to be so powerful and really points out how people view people living on the streets.

I think this idea of creating such powerful imagery through sculpture is such a drastic way of getting peoples attention which is exactly what the artist wanted to achieve. From looking at this installation concept I know that I want my installation to be placed on the streets of Milton Keynes. I have a few ideas so far but this has added another level of what I could potentially wish to create.

http://maxwellrushton.com/

Nele Azevedo

Melting Men, 2009

This installation artist carved ice into the sitting down shaped men which perched on the steps of Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. This piece was to highlight the raising temperatures and effects of global warming. Whilst looking into installation artists and the different media which they used to construct their ideas I found Nele Azevedo. I thought a lot about what I wanted to show and create within my conceptual installation idea. Looking into the the common causes of death in homeless people I found hypothermia to be one of the most contributing factors and thought back to Azevedo's frozen men. The installation continued until the last man melted and then all was left was a big puddle. This idea of something being there and uncontrollably witnessing this act really stuck with me and made me think a lot about how people view the homeless. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1210783/Melting-men-Thousand-ice-sculptures-left-thaw-sun-highlight-climate-change-Arctic.html

British Heart Foundation 

The advert shows a glimpse of peoples hearts being shown in different situations, this advert really stood out to me as it was a very simple yet effective concept which made me think about how everyone is the same on the inside. I immediately applied this concept in my head to the homeless community and thought about creating the same effect.  

My attempt 

  

Hostile Architecture 

Imagine being that kind of asshole that decides it's okay to put spikes on the floor to deter rough sleepers. Hostile architecture is where public spaces are designed with intent to manipulate the way the space is used so they are used in the way the owner chooses. Some examples of hostile architecture is where benches have "convenient" arm rests between each separate human space seat, this forces rough sleepers to be unable to find solace on a public bench. A quirky air vent cover which deters rough sleepers from sleeping on the warmth which is blown out through the winter nights. From finding this kind of architecture to be an actual thing it really struck me and made me think about the kind of low life people that commission this knowing that they're going to make people who already have it rough, a lot rougher to live. I would like to consider this piece of research when considering my installation concept. 

Ideas

Continuing my photography idea of documenting the growing homeless community in Milton Keynes. I want to write about my experiences with the people I speak to as well as taking their image. My approach is the same, being at their level and asking questions whilst allowing them time to answer and listening to what they have to say. 

CONTINUING PHOTOGRAPHY 1/2

April,  2018

April is a cervical cancer survivor, she originally comes from Canada and misses home a lot as her mother is very ill. She is waiting until she has enough money to fly home (she hopes October) and is delighted that the cannabis laws have changed out there now as she believes it helps her stay away from everything else thats tempting. April lives with a group of people in tents with men and another woman, she explained that there are some really bad people who are around them but they all look out for each other. 

Alan, 2018

Alan didn't want his image taken as he wanted to stay away from the public eye but allowed me to tell some information about him. Alan wore a burgundy patterned vest (very groovy looking) with a navy undershirt and had long grey curly hair which he tied up, he was sat in the sun and I sat next to him whilst he rolled fags and chatted. The half hour or so that I sat talking with him at least 50 people walked right past us. He's originally from Aylesbury, which is why he cannot be housed by Milton Keynes council because he is not from there. Alan is 61 years old. He explains that he doesn't feel hungry anymore. Alan keeps himself to himself and doesn't like using the shelters or soup kitchens as there are a lot of intimidating groups which he tries to stay out of. I hope to see Alan again the next time I am in Milton Keynes and check up on him. 

I decided that I wanted to do something different for this project, though I will still continue documenting the people I meet on the street. If I were to consider placing these within an installation concept I would have the portraits placed under the underpasses and on the bus stops in Milton Keynes, people would walk through the underpasses and stop and look at the portraits and see the tents and potentially give them money.

Spare Change

Spare change - is physical currency a thing of the past? Where does that leave homeless people who reply on petty change? How many times do people say they don't have any change when they do?

Concept/idea - I want to go out and take above shot photographs of peoples hands holding their "spare" change and then ask the question "can/could you spare this change?". I would document their answers and potentially display them with the question below the image within the installation. 

Installation idea - Placing the images under the underpass with the tents

I would place my images in-between the tents

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Placing images on/outside of tents 
Xscape screen showing the images with writing below 

Projecting images onto the tents 
Projecting images behind tents 



Sketches of idea 

Envisioning all the different ideas for my potential installation, I decided to sketch out my ideas. I wanted to present my images alongside the tents to give the images more context.    
Plan of shoot 

Equipment: GH4 14-140mm lens and Minolta prime lens (try both) Minolta 50mm has a greater depth of field.
Battery
Plastic bag (in-case it rains) 

Contact sheet 

Final Images 

"yes"

"yes"

"yes"

"no"

Evaluation

I have edited my images this way because I want them to be dramatic and eye-catching. I have dropped the shadows and highlights and boosted the contrast whilst dropping the saturation too. I would like to show these with my portraits from my last project (I am not sure how) and think they would stand together well as a collective series. I wish I had more confidence to go up to people and ask them "can you spare this change?" however for some unusual reason I lack this confidence at speaking with the public. I would have liked to have collected a larger amount of images however I am happy with the images I have collected. 

INSTALLATION 2/2

Ideas 

ice sculpture of man sitting on street (hypothermia)
life sized 


Ice sculpture

Whilst researching into homelessness I found that the leading cause of death to the homeless is hypothermia. Sadly 3 people living on the streets died in Milton Keynes, though no one can say what they died of we can speculate that it at the time of year, hypothermia would have been a helping factor. No one should be left to freeze.

 I thought of an interesting installation idea which incorporates life size ice sculptures of men and placing them on the street, in places you would typically spot someone who is homeless. Whilst looking into hostile architecture I considered this concept and how placing my frozen men in these hostile places would give more or a punch, though I haven't seen any hostile architecture in Milton Keynes.