At London’s Somerset House, a new exhibition is kicking off March 14 to raise awareness and money for the Crisis Commission – an organization that helps the homeless. The exhibition will not only feature the work of artists such as illian Wearing, Antony Gormley, Tracey Emin, Sir Anthony Caro and Jonathan Yeo, but also work by homeless people who have been helped by Crisis.
Amongst the stellar art work being featured is Yinka Shonibare’s Homeless Man, 2012 – a work suggesting that any privileged person can become vulnerable at any time for reasons out of their control – Patrick Brill’s Kite, a piece associated with isolation – and Gormley’s cast iron sculpture of a (what is thought to be) homeless person.
The Crisis Commision show is raising money and awareness at a very important time – in 2010, London noticed an 8% rise in homelessness, after years of declining trends. The show will run until April 22, and the works will be auctioned at Christie’s on May 3.