UNSEEN April 2021

Sunday 11 April to Friday 16 April 2021

Hi Everyone,

The April Activation of the UNSEEN project in Martin Place went extremely well. Thank you to all the participants for making the project come alive and all the volunteers from WEL, BLUR and Soroptimist that supported the activation. The new addition of the UNSEEN Tiny House expanded the project and enabled the public to engage in the topic of homelessness, plus social and affordable housing. The eye-catching popularity of the UNSEEN Chrome Car was clearly evident and the decals on the floor enabled audiences to engage directly with the narratives of the women in the project. May will see the Unseen Tiny House begin to become invisible as Marwan from Autoskin begins to chrome the exterior of the Tiny House. We are really pleased that the WEL donation portal allowed funds to be raised which support the project and hope that you can send this link throughout your contacts so that further funds can be raised https://unseen.house/donate-to-unseen/

• The large gallery window featured photographic works by women who participate in the annual project, Homelessness in Focus which is founded and run by by Mike Allwright and supported Mark Tsangaris from Ted’s Camera Store. Jai and Sera who participated in this project were there to explain to background of the story and its value to them. https://www.teds.com.au/blog/homeless-in-focus-unseen-exhibition

• The women from the Sydney Street Choir generously gave up their time to come and entertain the lunchtime crowds of Martin Place. We were lucky to have Jess, Monica, Tina and Ruth all decide to include their stories as part of the UNSEEN project.

• Participant in the UNSEEN project Emily Stafford, was the UNSEEN artist in residence and many members of the public came to sit with her and learn about and participate in making book art. Emily will be at the tiny house again in May working on her installation for the exhibition at NSW Parliament House in August.

• Participant in the UNSEEN project Roshee Taylor performed songs about her experiences of homelessness and with the assistance of 13 year old Zara and three of her friends who assisted Roshee engage with the public crafting  messages on paper dolls to homeless people, which will be placed on the tiny house. “It is a way to build awareness, reduce stigma and create a community of support through art,” The paper dolls will form part of the display in NSW Parliament House in August.

• Participant in the UNSEEN project Lani shared her experiences being of homelessness in preparation for the activation of her performance in June of the play she is writing with the assistance of Kylie and Bradley from Midnight Feast.

The QR code activated over 150 people to insist the website, while direct visits to the website through social and mainstream media brought another 1,728 people to visit the site with page views exceeding 15,000. The website has been updated with further information, so feel free to look at the videos and images from both the March and April activations.The media engagement of the UNSEEN project during April activation reached approximately 29.6 million people.

• Nine News Online: Tiny House shines a light on homeless girls as young as 12
  Lived experience participant of UNSEEN Jess from the Sydney Street Choir and Dr Jane Bullen from Women’s Electoral Lobby interviewed.
• ABC News Radio: Homelessness is a growing problem in Australia
  Dr Jane Bullen, Women’s Electoral Lobby interviewed.
• Super Radio Network Radio: UNSEEN project
  Super Radio Network (Morning News & Afternoon News) 2SM, 2LM, 2BH, 2AD, 2HD, 4GY, 4WK etc.
  Hayley Foster, CEO of Womens Safety and Belinda Mason of Blur Projects  interviewed.