Tuesday 18 September 2018
Friday 24 August 2018
Friday 17 August 2018
Monday 16 April 2018
Friday 6 April 2018
Frank
We met Frank in Echo Park. He's 66 and from Northern California. A Vietnam veteran, father and a very sweet soul. Josh and I went back to see Frank 4 times over a few weeks. He was always where he said he'd be. We had some great conversations.
The last time we went back to find him, he wasn't there.
He became the poster image for the event. Lots of love to you Frank!
Light & Noise
Augustine McQueen
Derrick
Edson
Frank
Tomas
Larry E Evans
Joshua Coombes
For 5 weeks my friend Josh and I wandered around LA county meeting people in the homeless community there. LA has a really huge population of homeless people. We spent a lot of time on Skid Row. An area in downtown LA, just blocks away from 15 dollar smoothies and car parks filled with Mercedes. Skid Row is the only part of downtown with no trees. There are tens of thousands of people of all ages living in tents on the pavements for miles each way. There are only 9 public toilets, and no water. The contrast between wealth and poverty, in one of the biggest cities, in the country with the largest economy in the world is really shocking. It's fucked!
Josh and I arranged and art show in this areas to try and highlight the issue. To try and humanise the people there, the people we met and made connections with. Friends of ours joined in with the same mindset; 3 other artists and 2 bands from San Pedro.
We weren't trying to present any kind of solution, I don't know what that could be. Recognising that there is an obvious problem and bringing people together to communicate about it seemed like a starting point. All the money raised on the night from donations and print sales etc. have gone to The Midnight Mission. That's the shelter right there. They are seriously busy at all hours.
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