'I cried my eyes out making this': Meet the artists in homeless exhibition backed by Prince William

David Tovey’s eyes fill with tears as he stands inside the big red sculpture which was once the Peugeot 203 car he lived in for six months in 2013. Then, it was his home. Now its parts stand tall in a hand-welded sculpture painted in red and shaped like a house.

“I’ve cried my eyes out making this,” Tovey, who is an internationally award-winning artist and activist, says. “Two weeks ago, I didn’t think I could have finished. It’s been triggering, and I didn’t think it would be, but when I’m making something so personal and autobiographical, it’s difficult.”

His latest work Home 2013 is in the centre of a groundbreaking art exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London breaking stigmas around homelessness. It hopes to use the power of art to improve the nation’s understanding of homelessness and inspire change.

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“The reason I did this is because I hadn’t attempted to do it before. I couldn’t do it before. The car means so much to me, and I was able to put it into such an important show, where we’re not looking at homelessness as something that everyone expects,” Tovey says.

“As an artist and someone who runs a charity myself [as co-director of Arts and Homelessness International], I wanted it to be true. I wanted to tell the truth about what is out there and what is happening. There are thousands of people living in cars.”

The exhibition Homelessness: Reframed was launched by Prince William and the Royal Foundation’s Homewards programme in partnership with the Eleven Eleven Foundation. 

It features work from renowned artists and those with experience of homelessness, including Marc Quinn, Rankin and Simone Brewster, alongside graffiti artist Opake, spoken word poet Surfing Sofas, Big Issue vendor Dave Martin and more.

Martin, who has sold the Big Issue for a decade, including with Prince William on two occasions, created a collage inspired by his experiences of homelessness.

“I think looking at all the other exhibits, mine included, makes me feel proud in a way that I’m part of it. It nearly didn’t happen. I tried to go from my abstract geometric shapes until something more complicated, but last minute I got inspired by these symbols,” Martin said.

“There’s a church window and doorway and a rooftop. I got inspired with a message. Each symbol represented my homeless experience.”

Martin’s piece is titled Sanctuary, inspired by a church he went to when he was facing homelessness. “Every homeless person needs a safe place to go when they sleep on the street.

“I call it Sanctuary because the way things happened led to me getting social housing, which is a sanctuary for anyone sleeping rough and going through the process of street homelessness and hostels and supported housing.”

The Homewards programme was launched in 2023 by Prince William and the Royal Foundation to demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness.

Filmmaker Lorna Tucker, who is an advisor to Homewards and has previously spoken to the Big Issue about her experiences of homelessness, says: “We’re elevating voices and we’re making it political.

“People who don’t necessarily want to hear these voices or see these pictures or could be judgemental on homelessness get to come into a gallery and be astounded by not only artwork and the quality of the art but also blown away by the message.”

The artists have also come to terms with their own understanding of homelessness through their involvement in the exhibition.

Artist Robi Walters said: “Homelessness is a much wider subject than I initially thought. I thought it was people living on the streets and now I understand that it’s also people living at their friend’s place, in cars. It’s not safe to live on the streets so some people hide so they don’t get treated in a certain way. 

“There must be a number of people who can never be counted or measured or seen because of the way they have discreetly placed themselves in society. I’m learning more and more, and I think it is very difficult to tackle a subject before you know what it is. 

“And now that I’m learning about it, and buying the Big Issue and engaging with people and helping in ways that I can, it’s completely changed my perspective. That’s one person and if it changes another, then it is on the right path.”

Sam d’Cruze created a sculpture of a person crouched on the floor and hiding from the world, based on her friend Sasha Aylwen’s experiences of homelessness. It reflects Aylwen’s cycle of trying to survive when living on the streets as an addict seven years ago.

“It’s amazing how far you can come,” Aylwen says. “It’s me but it also represents a lot of people.”

“It was quite lonely. It was isolating. Demoralising,” Aylwen adds, saying that there were times she felt unsafe. “It comes with the drug side of it, there are a lot of unsafe elements about it. And with the hygiene aspect, it’s quite difficult to let yourself go.”

Artist d’Cruze says: “The sculpture represents Sasha, but it is actually non-binary. It has no identity. We take that away from somebody when they haven’t got a home. But I also wanted to do something really beautiful to represent Sasha. You have to look closer to see the person through it.”

Tovey was in his 30s when he faced homelessness. He had gone back to university after having a stroke and losing his businesses, but his mental and physical health spiralled and he suffered with addiction and alcoholism. He attempted to take his own life 17 times.

“How are we letting someone do this so many times?” he asks. “I went to hospital and was there for two weeks, and then they sent me home. I got back to my flat and they had changed all the locks. What a way to kick someone when they are down?” 

Home 2013 is filled with little personal elements of his life, including a ball gown tightly wrapped as a nod to how he tried to keep the LGBTQ+ part of his identity suppressed.

“I didn’t want to put a rainbow flag all over it, but having that fighting thing about being queer caused a lot of problems in the first place. I was out the military. We’ve got military folded clothing because that had such an impact on my life,” Tovey says.

“Then we’ve got car parts, and they were going to be shaped like car parts originally, but I decided to bash them to show how battered I was by the whole system. There’s a camera because I’m a photographer and artist. 

“A toothbrush and razor. I shaved more when I was homeless than I do now, because I didn’t want people to know I was homeless. I didn’t class myself as homeless. I was just classing myself as someone living in my car. I wouldn’t go and use one of the services. I thought I wasn’t ‘one of them’ but I was. I just wasn’t accepting it.”

Art saved Tovey’s life. “You can be unique by making art,” he says. “We’re all different and we should celebrate difference. Instead of saying one size fits all, let’s say there’s a multitude of reasons why someone becomes homeless, let’s give them a multitude of solutions and choices to get out of it. It’s simple isn’t it? But they don’t do that. It’s so frustrating. Come on world. Wake up. And one day they will.” 

Homelessness: Reframed will run until 20 September at the Saatchi Gallery, London.

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