Name: PORTALS
Start: 2024-11-23T10:00:00+00:00
End: 2024-11-24T18:00:00+00:00
Location: The Swiss Church in London

An exhibition by artists with experience of homelessness & poverty, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Breakfast on the Steps.
About this Event

This November, the Swiss Church London present the first Breakfast on the Steps guests’ art exhibition, PORTALS. The show will be open to the public over two days and highlights the voices, stories and talents of artists with experience of homelessness and poverty.

This collaborative exhibition represents a passage to new spaces, be it through doorways, over thresholds and into memories, hallucinations, fantasy, mythology and science fiction. The motivation is simple: art can transport and transform. The exhibition aims to highlight the voices, stories and creativity of the community.

Many of the artworks are currently being made at the weekly Breakfast on the Steps Art Workshop and will be presented alongside submissions from artists and filmmakers who currently or previously visited the weekly breakfasts at the Swiss Church.

An artist-led exhibition, the title and themes of PORTALS have emerged from the ideas and artworks submitted and produced in the weekly workshops.

The exhibition coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the Breakfast on the Steps programme at the Swiss Church and will feature paintings, drawings, digital collages, short films, photography, poetry and more.

On Saturday 23 November, 10am - 12pm, we are hosting a celebratory Artists' Brunch. This is an opportunity to meet the exhibiting artists over coffee and pastries provided by local partner, Ole & Steen. It will also be a chance to hear speeches from the artists, the Breakfast on the Steps team and the Swiss Church Art Programme.

This exhibition has been made possible by the generous support from our volunteers, EKS Swiss Abroad Churches Fund, Kirchkreis 9 and local partners The London Graphic Centre and Ole & Steen.

This winter, we are taking part in the Big Give Christmas Campaign. Breakfast on the steps is a weekly event providing nutritious food for the local homeless community, and most importantly a safe and trusted environment some of our most vulnerable in society can come together with no pressure or agenda.

Earlier this year, the inaugural Arts Group took place, a workshop activity for BOS participants to express their creativity through drawing and painting, with kind support from London Graphics Centre. This new initiative broke down barriers and provides a platform for our most vulnerable in society to express their internal observations.

This exhibition will be the launch of our Big Give Christmas campaign to match fund £3,750.