Advertisement
Art

International artists raise money for the homeless with scrapped bus panels 

Internationally renowned urban artists have painted scrap bus panels to raise money for homeless and underprivileged people across London.

Artists from around the world have joined forces to raise money for London’s homeless and vulnerable by opening an exhibition of artworks on bus panels. 

Social enterprise 4BYSIX, an “art for good” community interest company, has curated the exhibition of new works in central London over the weekend of April 1 and 2. The pieces will be sold at an auction to raise money for the organisation’s ongoing projects helping people experiencing homelessness and underprivileged people across the capital, with sale price varying from £500 to £15,000 a piece.  

Milo Philips, one of the founders said: “We wanted to get involved and help people…we wanted to collaborate with artists and make sure everyone benefits from the project.” 

The exhibition features 26 internationally renowned artists including Richie Culver, Eva Beresin, Lil Kool and Yu Nagaba. 4BYSIX personally reclaimed panels and parts from “bus graveyards” and gave the artists creative autonomy,. gaining responses in a range of assorted styles from portrait and impressionist to etched and minimal.  

Reclaimed panels to be used as canvas’ for artists.
A “bus graveyard” where 4BYSIX salvaged panels.

Phillips told The Big Issue: “It started off with very random bus parts like mirrors, and windscreens but then we realised that thin aluminium cut into panels is the best canvas, so we’ve stuck with it ever since.” 

The auction of the works ends on April 7, and proceeds will be donated to 4BYSIX’s ongoing charitable initiatives such as 4BYSIX FC, a football club for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, initiating a handout of sleeping bags, knitted hats and gloves and 4BYSIX Pizza Kitchens which deliver pizzas to deprived people. 

The founders of 4BYSIX: Milo Phillips and Alex Dawber.

4BYSIX handouts, donating essential items such as sleeping bags, knitted hats and clothing, and 4BYSIX Pizza Kitchens in London). The founders expressed a keen interest in expanding their projects with an aim to one day open a hostel.  

Advertisement
Advertisement

“We were designing a lot of products like T-shirts, and then we spoke about sleeping bags very briefly and then we made a project happen where it was going to pay for 500 sleeping bags for homeless people. We did that and then we got a feel for it, and thought ‘how can we take this to the next level and help more people?’ 

Dawber and Philips said the name was inspired by the ‘4’ standing for ‘for everyone involved’ and the ‘six’ to refer to the six degrees of separation to emphasise how we are all connected. 

The exhibition is called BREAK IN EMERGENCY 3 and are opening their doors on 1-2 April on 125 Bond Street, London.  

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

Read All
Fin DAC: 'As a creator of public murals, I aspire to leave spaces brighter than I found them'
Fin DAC
Fin DAC

Fin DAC: 'As a creator of public murals, I aspire to leave spaces brighter than I found them'

'It's art for people': This one-man kayak project shows the beauty of slowing down
Lying down flat in a kayak offers a rarely seen view of the UK’s waterways
Art

'It's art for people': This one-man kayak project shows the beauty of slowing down

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

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

Superstar Arts: This charity gives people with learning disabilities the chance to create
Art

Superstar Arts: This charity gives people with learning disabilities the chance to create

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue