The word 'homeless' is usually associated with adults and the elder generation who are without a career or home to reside. People aren't as aware of the growing rate of youth homelessness. Recently, my eyes have been opened to the rapid increase in students struggling to find a place to live, often house hopping between friends. It's hard to get an exact figure on the rate of homeless students as Universities don't tend to monitor this issue and a lot of the time students are too ashamed to admit they are couch sharing or struggling at all. University is a time to be independent and for a lot of these students their independence is taken away from them when being unable to reside comfortably.
My research has shown that in a lot of cases Universities have been selling off their accommodation to private investors with the anticipation of creating higher-end accommodation to attract richer students. This unfortunately leaves poorer students with the struggle of finding accommodation in the private housing market.
Due to my love of Fashion and growing interest in politics, I decided to create a Political Fashion Shoot with the aim of raising awareness ofhomeless youths and students. To make my shoot relatable to fashion and correlate with my peer group I gave myself a budget to gather clothing from various charity shops. People my age can't always afford to keep up-to-date with the latest fashion trends, however still want to be able to exhibita style identity. This is the same for homeless youths. I wanted to create looks from something small however still considering the idea of style. The budget was £30 for each look; allowing each subject to display an individual style identity as well as the clothing serving a form of purpose.
Each subject is holding a cardboard sign reading different statements or messages that I gathered from an online poll, where I asked students from my University to collate ideas of what they would write on a sign if they were ever in the position of homelessness. I did this to make my photographs realistic and relatable but also so that my images speak a truthfulness and display a raw aesthetic. I emphasised this by using minimal editing to keep the images natural.
Art Directions: Jamain Gordon
Stylist: Caitlin Forbes
Photography: Jamain Gordon