Sean Croucher – A sound installationSean Croucher – A sound installation
I started interviewing men and women that were living rough in various parts of the city in 2012. With their permission I recorded their stories on a hand held microphone and then made a few drawings of their faces in pen and ink. I didn’t quite know what I was hoping for but I knew that I wanted the drawings to be as stark as the encounters themselves were and the recordings to be clean. I decided to take things further and create a sound/illustration piece that was more substantial so with the backing of the cultural place making consultancy FutureCity and The Big Issue Foundation the plan was this. To build an installation that explores what it means to be homeless in a large urban space in the 21st century – in other words – London.
I’m designing a collection of 40 professionally produced one-off ‘greeting’ cards that celebrate – for want of a better word – a fictional day. ‘Happy Homeless Day.’ These cards are not for fun or affectionate ‘giving’. They will stand on a display as a purposeful statement made in direct response to the commercially ‘designed’ public holidays that we know so well. I want to stimulate a moment of pause – to force the opener of the cards to think a little. Initially you’ll see a drawing of course – a portrait of a Big Issue vendor – and perhaps you’ll open it. And if you do, you will hear a voice. Not a garish jingle or greeting but someone who is or has experienced homelessness narrating a moment in their world – sharing a glimpse of their reality on a London street near you.
The Big Issue has been essential in this project. For a start it has always been the iconic representative of those living rough throughout England for as long as I can remember and the bastion of hope and assistance for those wanting to get their lives back on track. So with the kind assistance of 40 Big Issue vendors who all agreed to share their stories with me and give me 20 minutes of their time, their voice and their image, my project was born. Furthermore making the drawings has been my own way of really looking at each person who so kindly gave me that time. The overall appearance of the installation will be that of a small card shop with beautifully produced cards filling the display cabinet. ‘Gift items’ at a good price but which all carry stories within them. You won’t know this however unless you bother to open one. A card can be easily ignored – and walked past. Just like a Big Issue vendor…. easy to walk past. You would have to pick one up and look at it. And then you’d have to listen.
SEAN’S sound piece is available to view as part of the LCC Final Degree Show in Sound Arts and Design at HOTEL ELEPHANT between June 3rd – 7th 2014. Printed versions of a few of the cards will be available for purchase and any profits will go to The Big Issue Foundation.
To find out more about the project please go to www.happyhomelessday.com.
