Claude, Frank, Rabah & Sébastien

Wipe your feet before coming in

Ladies and gentlemen, before visiting this exhibition, we invite you to do a little mental exercise.
Think about your usual morning routine: breakfast, going to the bathroom, shower, brushing your teeth, etc. Now stretch it out in space. To have breakfast, you have to go to one area of Brussels; to go to the toilet, another area; and to take a shower, yet a third one. Walk, walk, walk. Don't forget to stretch it out over time too, because these places are all shared spaces where the ticket is king and queues are the rule. Finally, put any concept of privacy and silence on hold. Let’s be clear, this routine is physically and psychologically draining. And on top of it comes the question of where to spend the night. You are spoiled for choice: shelters, emergency accommodation, squats, public spaces, the street... The most basic of comfort, shifting glances or insistent stares, noise, illness, violence, cold, theft... For the most part, nights are short and the days long.

This quick dive into the world of living on the stress is just a glimpse of a complex universe. The realities of homelessness are multiple and there are as many ways of experiencing them as there are individuals. However, beyond the material difficulties that homeless people face, they also face an intangible difficulty that we don’t even imagine: their dehumanisation. No matter how they are doing, what their story or journey is or has been, they feel like numbers, all put in the same basket, without a voice. Because this person doesn’t have (or no longer has) a house, he or she doesn't count, is worthless...

Wipe your feet before coming in

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