HOLLY STANDEN

Commuter (The Struggle), 2020
Performance

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The artist uses her personal experience of living in poverty to confront the British public with the reality of those suffering due to austerity. She crawls 344 meters across Byker Bridge whilst trapped inside a sleeping bag; an area that has struggled with poverty, crime, and homelessness for many years. By performing this piece at 8am on a cold wet winter morning and crawling towards the city, she disrupts the flow of the everyday commuter and demonstrates how a very simple act of trying to reach a basic goal can be almost impossible for those suffering in poverty.