An abstract sculpture to remember homeless people who have died in Brighton and Hove is being planned for gardens in the city centre.
Making it Out, a Brighton charity, wants to put the Stop Sign memorial in Brighthelm Gardens.
the charity, which supports repeat offenders, has applied to Brighton and Hove City Council for planning permission.
On its website, it says: “The artwork has a provisional agreement to be placed in Brighthelm Gardens in central Brighton.
“Brighthelm Centre and Church have a long history of supporting homeless groups with one of the earliest support groups operating from the crypt in the church.
“Placing the sculpture here will make it visible for millions of visitors to Brighton who walk down the hill towards the seafront, helping to bring awareness to the issue.”
The project began after a suggestion from homeless support organisation The Passage, in particular one of its staff members Greg Headley.
The charity has been working with homeless people on the design since 2021 – since which time at least four participants have themselves died.
It sent out 150 art packs to homelessness support organisations across Brighton and Hove, and ran workshops, asking homeless people for sketches, models, poems and stories.
The finished design incorporates a tree of life – a suggestion of one of the homeless people.
It sits on top of concrete bricks arranged to resemble a hunched over figure. MIO says: “The separate ‘piled’ concrete blocks instead of a traditional plinth represents broken foundations that are often a factor in homelessness.
“The tree is growing across the back of the figure with branches wrapping around trying to find somewhere a surface to anchor and seemingly surviving despite difficult circumstances.
“Leaves on the sculpture represent new growth whilst also portraying fragility.”
The issue at the moment though is that Brighthelm Gardens has been closed off to the public for quite some time, meaning current people from the homeless community are unable to access the space. People can’t simply walk through the gardens.
I get that anti-social behaviour may have been a big and serious issue in the gardens, but blocking off outdoor spaces doesn’t solve the problem, it simply moves it on.
I think the idea of a sculpture is really good in principle, just think it’s not OK for community spaces to be blocked off from public access in the way that has happened at Brighthelm: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/05/19/city-centre-gardens-fenced-off-to-stop-drugs-and-knife-threats/
As a former homeless person in Brighton myself, that garden was locked up for good reason, drug dealing, aggressive begging, intimidation of old people, there is a difference between your homeless person and your drug addict scum, plus needles left all over the place, homeless people can access the church at the front door, that garden was ruined by the hostel living fraggles, not the homeless, used to sleep there on and off when homeless myself,.
I think that there may well be a feeling of resentment over this by some of the homeless community. The reason being that one of the prominent individuals involved in this project was responsible for the death of another homeless man years back in a stabbing incident related to drugs. I’m not going to mention names but there are still articles related to this online.
This is a massive elephant in the room and also shows a total disregard or disconnect on this individuals part in being allowed to take part in this project?
Finally. I am in no way opposed to this project as a homeless person myself I’m grateful that somebody has finally acknowledged that people need to be remembered. I’ve lost close friends and have personally witnessed two deaths. I also believe that Arch Healthcare the homeless surgery had some input as well and Dr’s Worthley, Sergeant and the team deserve credit as well?