home is a place where someone lives permanently. Homelessness affects 320,000 people in the UK according to the housing charity Shelter. It is impossible to go into our cities or towns and not see people experiencing homelessness. There are of course the people you can’t see, the invisible people who are sofa surfing or living in cars or temporary accommodation.

I have worked with individuals, groups with lived experience of homelessness, also with homeless organisations to create art sculptures. These sculptures have gone on to be exhibited in galleries and festivals in and around Manchester including the Whitworth.

These pieces were created to raise awareness and empathy for fellow humans who have experienced and in many cases suffered from having no place to live, often taking refuge on our streets, sofas, cars and in tents to survive. The individual head sculptures titled ‘my name is’ tell of each person’s experiences from birth to now of how their journeys led them to and away from experiencing homelessness. With the use of photos and memorabilia set into pockets in the head, pyrography timelines burnt into the slice of a tree and imprinted poems, the sculptures reflect each personal and individual story.