Homelessness exhibition backed by Prince William urges visitors to contribute with charity gifts

Saatchi Gallery shop will sell phone top-ups and travel cards to help keep people off the streets

Visitors to an art exhibition supported by the Prince of Wales to overturn stereotypes about homelessness will be able to buy mobile phone top-ups and travel cards to help people at risk of losing their homes.
A selection of charity gifts will be available in the gift shop at the Saatchi Gallery in London, where the Homelessness: Reframed exhibition opens on Wednesday.
It is the first time the Saatchi has offered “non-commercial” products in its gift shop, and is thought to be the first offer of its kind in the major British galleries.
Homewards, the Prince’s campaigning project, which organised the exhibition, described the items on offer as a “daily travelcard so people can travel to their employment, mobile data top-ups to enable them to stay connected, a study kit for a new training course, and a moving-in pack to help make their accommodation feel like home, which we know helps sustain tenancies”.
Each gift will be represented by a postcard costing between £5 and £100, with money sent to two homeless charities – The Passage and Centrepoint – to be converted into products to be given to those in need.
The gifts on offer have been deliberately chosen because they can help prevent people from becoming homeless, rather than the more conventional charity purchases for those already living on the street, such as sleeping bags.
The exhibition is designed to overturn stereotypes about homelessness. The works are intended to be optimistic, and reflective of all kinds of homelessness, from sleeping on the streets to sofa surfing.
One section, entitled Invisible Words, has cardboard signs once used by people seeking help on the streets, framed and mounted on the gallery wall.
Curated by Wendy Abrams of Eleven Eleven Foundation, the collection was built up by purchasing signs from people in the UK, US and elsewhere. The sellers’ permission was obtained for their use to “capture a range of emotions from shame and desperation to humour and resilience, encouraging viewers to reconsider their perceptions”.
A second section includes works of art by those who have experienced homelessness, as well as prominent artists including Marc Quinn, Rankin and Phillip Colbert.
The exhibition features a small black and white image of a young woman appearing at her most desperate in temporary accommodation. It is mounted opposite a healthy, smiling image of the same woman taken this year by Rankin and printed floor to ceiling.
The third and final section is made up of six doors, each representing one of the geographical locations of the six Homewards pilot projects, decorated by children and local artists.
The exhibition is described as “utilising the power of art to help improve the nation’s understanding of homelessness and inspire optimism that it can be ended”.
The Prince of Wales is said to be looking forward to touring the exhibition, which runs until Sept 20.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “The Prince also wanted the project to generate new imagery around the topic of homelessness.
“Far too often the images we see of homelessness are of people rough sleeping, failing to reflect that this is just one of the many different types of homelessness that people can experience.”