People always ask what event led you to become homeless. For me, it has not been a single incident, more a chain of experiences which have brought me to this situation. It started with me trusting a landlord and not signing an official contract. The room I had was literally a box, so much so Vice magazine has done a piece on it labelling it the "Harry Potter Room". If you've seen the movie you will get the reference. If you have not, please look it up. It will make you smile. However, I was a young artist in the city trying to balance renting a room, studio and paying bills, so the cheap rent for the "room" was what I had to do at this stage.
These conditions began to impact my mental health and I started to realise living in such a space was not sustainable. When lockdown hit things got a lot worse, I lost my job and shortly after was evicted. I had no other option but to turn to squatting and sofa-surfing wherever I could. As you can imagine this did not do my mental health any good.
I am so lucky during this time I've been supported by the lovely people around me, including my family, friends, my partner, my spiritual coach, Fehmina from Ingeus, Erke from Universal Credit and now you wonderful people!
For now, I will take whatever work opportunities come up in my field, just to get some income and stability in my life. I've just been commissioned to paint 7 murals (see picture attached) by UK Mexican Arts Society as part of their public art programme. You can see them on display on Phoenix Road NW1 outdoors for the next 3 months—enjoy!
Eventually, I would like to start my own NGO in the creative field to support and give back to various communities.