art of protest

human(e)

An exhibition documenting poverty

In November 2017 I started helping the StreetfoodPZ project, a volunteer based organisation primarily dedicated to providing a hot meal for the homeless and vulnerable every evening at 6pm.

human(e) is a a body of work in response to my experiences and observations both of these citizens of Penzance and the reactions of the local people and businesses to them.

serving food

Tale of a utensil. 

I wanted to take the tea urn, kettle, tea pot, serving tray and spoon that we used to serve our guests food and use them to document information I gathered about how they coped with the harsh weather and hostile elements of the local community. 

Names, stories and headlines
I etched the names of guests who were visiting the Streetfood Project during that period and conveyed their experiences of life on the street, along with news headlines at the time. 

serving history

story of Jordan 
(Large fabric panels mounted on frames)
Jordan arrived in Penzance healthy and happy.
I watched his well-being deteriorate over a nine month period until eventually an ambulance was called one evening to where we were serving and he was taken to hospital with a drug overdose .

human(e): central gallery space
Serving utensils surrounded by echoes of our guests in the form of small etched plates.

rage over

poverty vs international big business
Etching on recycled printing plates, overall size 2m x 1.2m.
While we were serving food outside in the car park opposite the Europcar car hire centre an incident occured. To prevent us from serving food the company deliberately parked their hire cars at an angle so their bonnets protruded on to the covered payment where we usually set up the serving tables.

queue

naming poverty
Posh John, Jay, Rowan, Jordan, Kirsty, Dee and Puzzle. 

serving stories

contained narrative.

Series of twelve cardboard serving dishes illustrating my observations of what was happening to the guests and how they were affected the environment around them on a day to day basis.

etched plates
Series of twelve, small etched plates based on photos taken whilst serving food.