Hidden youth homelessness exposed with 'invisible' sculptures
A spotlight is being shone on the problem of hidden youth homelessness by a new awareness campaign designed to bring the issue to the attention of the general population by a coalition of charities.
#NOWYOUSEEMEE by End Youth Homelessness is centred on a set of ‘invisible’ sculptures created by artist David Oliveira which will be exhibited at London’s Design Museum between 22-24 March before hitting the road for a UK-wide tour.
This will help seed a social media campaign in which members of the public will be encouraged to discuss the issue and get involved with local homelessness charities.
The campaign was born out of statistics compiled by Centrepoint from 2018 indicating that 103,000 16-25-year olds requested help from their local authorities because they were either homeless or at risk of becoming so, over half of whom received no support.
Many of those who slip through the net are forced to ‘sofa surf’ with friends and family to avoid ending up on the streets.
#NOWYOUSEEMEE was devised by the Advertising Producers Association with specific contributions from The Mill, Black Dog Films, Iconoclast and Little Black Book.
APA chairman John Hackney said: "Having spent a working life in Soho, I am critically aware of the plight of homeless young people, so I was inspired to try and help End Youth Homelessness' important work nationally. A veritable box of Liquorice Allsorts of volunteers, producers, directors and editors were assembled from the APA to create a think tank.
Homeless young people feel overlooked, invisible. And so, the strategy distilled down to one word -‘Invisibility’. The idea emerged to create ‘invisible’ sculptures. We're delighted to be working with artist David Oliveira, whose wire figures not only describe ‘Invisibility’ but are arresting and provocative in their own right."
Past efforts to raise awareness include curated Spotify playlists created by Depaul UK to give youth homeless a voice.