Advertisement
Art

Pure Evil: ‘Artists are just a few pay checks away from homelessness’

Pure Evil has designed limited edition signed wrapping paper which is available from The Big Issue Shop

Renowned graffiti artist Pure Evil’s work has been showcased across the world but he understands how easy it can be for creatives to fall into poverty and homelessness

Real name Charles Uzzell Edwards, he told the Big Issue that when he returned from the USA he was “pretty broke” and forced to sofa-surf

“I’m not comparing my life to anyone else but when I came back from the USA I was pretty broke couch surfing. One weekend I just had a few pounds to survive,” he said. 

“I wasn’t going to ask anyone for a handout. It was so hard, the city just sucks the money out of you.” 

Pure Evil has designed limited edition signed wrapping paper which is available from The Big Issue Shop. All profits will go directly back to the magazine and give people living on the margins a hand up.  

“Can you imagine what it’s like to be out on the street in this freezing cold weather? It must be a kind of frozen hell,” Edwards added.

Advertisement
Advertisement

“Now multiply that by the pandemic and it’s just the worst thing imaginable. This is why I am always going to say yes when I can help the homeless.” 

Edwards said struggling as an artist is not comparable to being homeless but many in the art world are just a few pay checks away from poverty, something he has experienced himself.

“Another time on a train in Europe, I got stuck between Yugoslavia and Italy. I had no money and no food. I had to go through empty carriages in a siding looking for food under the seats. I found a half-eaten, couple of days old burger and it was delicious.” 

The Welsh-born creator had some strong words for Government ministers, saying he would like to see them donate a month’s salary to those less fortunate. 

“I would like the government to donate every penny of their wages to help the homeless for a month, that would be nice of them. And also, to stop hooking their friends up with billions of pounds of fake PPE contracts. It’s disgusting.”

Edwards’ work is often based on pop culture, featuring an iconic solitary teardrop on all of his portraits. His Pure Evil gallery in London features shows and projects by him and other leading street artists. 

Make your gift extra special this year by wrapping it up in the Big Issue’s Limited Edition Art Wrapping Paper.

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