A new photography commission seeks to create an honest and intimate portrait of homelessness in London.
British Journal of Photography and CALM, a charity leading the movement against suicide, has launched an open call to commission one 1854 Access Member to document the lives of homeless people in London. The photographer will also mentor ten people that are currently homeless, each of whom will be given a Polaroid camera and asked to document how they feel through the medium of photography. Are you a photographer that wants to make a difference? Find out more about the commission here.
The official statistics on homelessness in the UK are hard to swallow. In December 2019, Shelter, one of the UK’s leading homelessness charities, released a report detailing the extent of homelessness in England. It reported that 280,000 people are currently homeless; for every 200 people living in England, one is without a home. And yet, these statistics do not account for the hidden homeless – the undocumented sofa surfers or the people sleeping on buses. The true extent of homelessness in England is therefore far greater than these figures suggest.
