To raise awareness of the Homeless crisis, over the course of the past year photographer Jermaine Francis has been documenting tents on the streets of the capital, which are increasingly serving as makeshift homes and temporary homeless shelters, both in London and across the UK. Following the publication of his poignant photographs in i-D’s Post Truth Truth Issue, Francis’s images will be shown in The Invisibles, an exhibition with i-D opening on Wednesday, October 23rd at Protein Studios in London’s Shoreditch, with donations going to the housing and homelessness charity Shelter.
“Research from Shelter has revealed that there are about 300,000 homeless people in the UK, an increase of 13,000 in the past year alone. This means that one in every 200 people in Britain are homeless. If you add in those who are unrecorded or sleeping two and three to one tent, that number is even higher,” Francis told i-D. “It felt strange seeing so many homeless people living in tents here in Britain; we are the fifth-largest economy in the world. This is a place that’s supposed to be able to help the most vulnerable in our society. I decided to document them,” he explains of the project.
In addition to the exhibition, an auction of works by artists and photographers including Mel Bles, Robi Rodríguez, Vinca Peterson, Lena C Emery and Francis himself will be held at the opening. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to Shelter’s Home Team, Family Support Service. Get down and invest in a print for an important cause.
‘The Invisibles’ opens Wednesday, 23rd October at Protein Studios, EC2A 3EY from 18:00-21:00. Photographs by Jermaine Francis.
