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I've been looking forward for a while to this new exhibition at Crisis - an organisation for and of homeless people whose Oxford branch shares a building with an innovative arts centre. There is a powerful overlap between the two organisations and it shows.

The exhibition is genius, and on so many levels. I especially like the participants being described as 'artists who have experienced homelessness' rather than 'homeless people involved in an arts project'. More information, copied from the guide, below. 

Crisis/Arts at the Old Fire Station are now trying to raise enough money to enable the exhibition to tour. You can see the pictures here. Please do.


ICON is the culmination of a project which explores what makes an image iconic. A group of artists who have experienced homelessness worked with Rory Carnegie to learn about the different aspects of making a photograph through investigating iconic imagery. The project exposed them to the technical craft of great photography and the complex logistics involved - from composition and lighting to make-up and prop sourcing - but it also enabled them to think deeply together about their emotional engagement with the images, generating feelings ranging between celebratory, nostalgic, social, political and traumatic. The photographs were selected due to their iconic status and include representations of some of the most recognisable and famous people, or moments, in recent British history.

The group recreated fifteen photographs, in some posing alongside colleagues from Crisis and Arts at the Old Fire Station, making it a truly collaborative experience. ICON asks you to re-examine these images, with people who often feel disregarded or ignored now centre stage.