Chinese art student “pretends to be homeless” for a day in London

    by rainbowarriorhere

    22 Comments

    1. Why is she doing this though? It’s possible she’s trying to make a statement about how in the current economy we’re all close to falling through the cracks of society. Or maybe something else. It’s also entirely possible she’s just completely out of touch with reality and is being incredibly insensetive. We just don’t know without the rest of the context here.

    2. Sorry, what’s the facepalm here? This could be a some part of her creative process. Viewing the street from another perspective etc.

    3. Shocking, tried being homeless in London for half a day

      Life experience +1, but it was actually a friend’s take on performance art

      Around the controversy:
      First off, I’m not going to explain the point of this experiment, but will touch on why I participated: I always thought it was ironic how the fanciest streets of London were packed with homeless folks. I was always intrigued by this particular group of people. I didn’t do this as an attempt to simulate them or live a day in their shoes, I just thought it was something to experience…

    4. Specialist-Cod-7750 on

      TRANSLATION

      Shocked, I was homeless in London for half a day

      Life Experience +1, this is for my friend’s art project

      Addressing some of the comments:
      First of all l am not going to explain for my friend the purpose of this project, l will only discuss why l took part. I find it’s ironic that there are always homeless people lying on London fanciest street. I am curous/fascinated by them. I don’t want to conpletely impersonate them, or stress this is for art. I only want to treat this as an experience l can empathize
      (The post is cut off there).

      This girl is from mainland China. To be a foreign student in London from China, your parents has to be well off to be able to afford sending you there for study. I can assume she grew up in quite sheltered upbringing and probably never seen poverty up close.

      Also, many many mainland Chinese students in London hang out with each other and rarely friends with local students so you are literally swapped from being in China to being in London surrounded by fellow Chinese students so it’s not that different from being at home.

      It isn’t clear what she got out of this experiment but it’s a bit bad taste. She could have volunteer to the numerous soup kitchens in London to help the homeless.

    5. She wasn’t living homeless though. She was just sat on the street for half the day, before going home afterwards. She could have gone home at any point.

    6. Funny how people will walk past actual homeless people every day in the UK and we just completely ignore them, we don’t talk to them, we don’t help them, we don’t vote for politicians to solve the issue, we don’t talk about it on social media or on the news.

      A G7 member that ***chooses*** not to get all of it’s own citizens off the street.

      But one person does it as part of a statement and it’s suddenly a facepalm and ***they*** should be ashamed?

    7. Many universities do this and students participate to spread awareness and raise money for the homeless.

    8. She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge

      She studied sculpture at Saint Martin’s College

      That’s where I
      caught her eye

      She told me that her dad was loaded

      I said, in that case I’ll have rum and Coca-Cola

      She said fine

      And then in thirty seconds time she said

      I wanna live like common people

      I wanna do whatever common people do

      Wanna sleep with common people

      I wanna sleep with common people

      Like you

      Oh what else could I do?

      I said I’ll, I’ll see what I can do

    9. Stylishly grubby trousers – check.
      McMuffin – check.
      Ass wipes – check.
      Set of watercolour paints – check.
      Weather not to bad – check.
      Heating in at home – check.
      That’s me ready to be homeless till supper time.

    10. ‘Cause everybody hates a tourist

      Especially one who, who thinks it’s all such a laugh

      Yeah, and the chip stains and grease will come out in the bath

      You will never understand

      How it feels to live your life

      With no meaning or control

      And with nowhere left to go

    11. i hate this …in Berlin the “rich kids” to call it that like to dress as homeless or the poor for the aesthetic of it ….i dont get it

    12. So wrong at some many different levels.

      Someone who is so privileged tried to be (more like acting to be) homeless for a day in London?

      In contrast, certain prince in the UK slept rough in a cold night on a London street discreetly (apparently with 1 protection officer), to raise awareness of homeless issues. He then went to shower at a local shelter for the homeless and cooked breakfast and meals for them.

      Here is charity that Prince William supports : http://homewards.org.uk

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