This Stuff Matters

This Stuff Matters is a new exhibition created by Museum of Homelessness in partnership with the Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Curated by people from the Connection at St Martin’s, working with members of Museum of Homelessness community and supported by artist Chloe Osborne, this capsule exhibition takes the largely hidden history of homelessness in the UK as it's starting point and uses it to ask questions about what is happening today.

There is a hidden history of homelessness in the UK that shines a light on today’s crisis. This is a history that shows us what has happened on the streets, in hostels, in politics and in people’s lives over the last 70 years. The curators have selected 13 items from the archive at the Museum of Homelessness to share with the public. These include placards made to protest the recent housing crisis, obscure archival records that highlight long lost social agitators and campaigning material from the past as well as today.

Rather than a typical exhibition or a timeline of homelessness history, the curators are offering an experience from the heart; a series of glimpses into what has gone before and what is happening today. Labels and documentary evidence within the show has been written by people who either are or have been homeless.

History is something we pay close attention to at the Museum of Homelessness, yet all too often in the debates about homelessness and housing, it is forgotten. The lessons that history could teach us are not being learned. In 2018 Shelter estimated that at least 320,000 families were homeless and research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism tells us that between October 2017 and March 2019, 800 people have died whilst homeless, many in tragic and avoidable circumstances.

This Stuff Matters is an exhibition about learning from history, and about the questions that matter about homelessness today. This work is driven by direct experience of homelessness. Do visit to support and celebrate those participating and to explore the questions that matter.

This Stuff Matters will run until 2nd September 2019 in the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

This Stuff Matters would not be possible without the support of St Martin-in-the-Fields who are hosting the exhibition, and Turning Point who have funded the project.

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Dire Straits - On Every Street.