These Shelter brooches are the remainder of a series of installations of over 150 brooches and are based on my continuing interest in the issue of dislocation.The word ‘home’ is such a potent word associated as it is with comfort, security and family. The loss of that safe place to retreat into (for whatever reason) is devastating.

In contemporary society and popular culture the serious issues surrounding the housing crisis are frequently the fuel of emotive political statements. Also the plethora of renovation/building/tiny home/grand design programmes on TV are often presented as DIY however, the reality is more likely to be just another opportunity to exploit the consumerism of home ownership along with all the ‘necessary’ things needed to fill it.

The brooches contain my response to these contexts, but are also driven by the amount of building waste I see piled into bins at building sites around the city. The materials I have used are all recycled or salvaged.

For all the iterations of this project I have asked purchasers of the Shelter brooches to nominate a charity that deals with very different aspects of homelessness – a local Women’s Refuge or the International Habitat for Humanity. I have donated part of the price to these charities. In this particular instance I plan to make a donation of $10 per brooch to the Red Cross to support their work in Turkey and Syria for the people displaced by the devastating recent earthquake or a local charity working with flood relief.