Through an evocative arrangement of 12 glass houses, this thought-provoking artwork explores the pressing issue of the housing crisis and the hidden homeless. The surfaces of the houses display powerful imagery of the artist and other hidden homeless, symbolising the feeling of being trapped. Each glass house will be priced to reflect the average rental cost in Dublin, 12 houses for 12 months of the year, highlighting the severity of the issue. This artwork offers a timely commentary on the challenges facing generation stuck.
The idea for this project came from my feeling far to big for my childhood bedroom, much like Alice In Wonderland after she ate the cake and grew too big. I made the prototype by scanning and photographing myself squashed up against glass and using that imagery on the house, as you can see in the next section.
This summer I will be creating 12 of these glass houses that will tell 12 different stories of people who are in a similar situation to me. We know from the Marriage Referendum and Repeal that it was the human stories that changed minds and in turn changed laws. I hope to display this art work at Sculpture in Context in September.
The only rules for application to this project are:
- You must be living with a relative/friend: ie you don't own your own home, you are not officially renting or included in the homeless figures.
- You must be currently living in Ireland.
I want to tell as diverse a range of stories as I can, to show this situation for what it is, who it effects and how it's effecting them. I'd like to include as many ages, genders, nationalities, sexual orientations, disabilities etc so that I can represent the nuanced difficulties that someone might experience. Each house will be that participants story, and I will work with the participant to create a house that represents them and how they feel about their situation. There is an element of humour to this project by the act of squashing our faces and bodies against the glass, and I would like to expand on that with text and other imagery that might be relevant. Often in difficult times we use humour to help us cope with the absurdity of situations.
Important Information to note before you apply:
- I will be photographing you (your family) squashing yourselves against a sheet of glass and that imagery will be on this artwork that will be viewed by the public and may be in newspapers and other media. You most likely will be identifiable so please consider this, especially if you would like to include your children in the project (you don't have to include them, they can be represented by toys/doodles etc). By applying you are consenting to this.
- Answers can be as short or long as you like.
- Only give as much detail as you are comfortable sharing with me right now.
- If selected I will ask you to write out a statement about your situation that will be used on the house and in promotion of the project. so have a think about what you're ok with being public.
- If you are unsure about whether you are able to participate for any reason, feel free to contact me to discuss it and see if we can figure it out. I don't want anyone to feel excluded or left out.
- By applying you are agreeing to GDPR guidelines and are allowing me to contact you for the purposes of this project.
And for those that don't fit the 2 criteria above, I have more ideas for follow on projects so keep an eye out!
