Robert and Jane

“Robert and Jane” is available as a signed limited edition print, please see the homeless series on the limited edition print section of the website.

I met Jane in Brick Lane, London in 2019. I was struck by how happy and hopeful she appeared. Over a period of time of getting to know her I realised how completely alone she was. Just a few metres away from Jane was a wall that was full of graffiti and it was the poster of Robert that really struck me. There was some mystery as to who Robert was. I was told that he was a homeless boy who had died in tragic circumstances completely alone although nobody that I spoke to had ever met Robert. Perhaps if someone had helped him he may be alive and not just a memory, a poster on a wall. I could see the same thing happening to Jane. She was slowly dying alone on the spot that she always stood. I wanted to show how she was destined to be a memory on a wall just like Robert. I painted the graffiti over Jane to raise the questions? Is she alive?, is she a memory?, is she a painting on a wall? The point of the work is to show the devastating loneliness of the homeless issue and that the loneliness will eventually kill.