How Pollution and Homelessness Collide in London
London artist Marie Ayodele opens her first solo exhibition, Breathe: See the Unseen, bringing together painting, ceramics and audio testimony to explore how London’s air pollution directly impacts people experiencing homelessness.
In partnership with the Museum of Homelessness, the exhibition highlights how people sleeping rough often live in the most polluted parts of the city, spending long hours beside heavy traffic, dust and industrial air.
The opening evening will include reflections from Councillor Ian Wingfield, who will speak about pollution and its impact on vulnerable residents, and clean-air campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is expected to attend.
A Winter Appeal will run alongside the show, with donations supporting the Museum of Homelessness and people affected by both homelessness and pollution this winter.
What visitors will see:
- Paintings portraying people often overlooked, set within atmospheric abstract environments.
- Ceramics transforming everyday street objects (bin bags, tyres) into vessels of resilience and memory.
A three-part audio diary, including:
- a long-form interview with Gareth (historic rough sleeping)
- a frontline worker’s perspective
- anonymous short interviews with people currently sleeping rough (with consent; identities protected)
Marie Ayodele says, “No one really asks people sleeping rough what pollution means to them or how they define homelessness. This exhibition listens. The work is about attention: who we recognise, who we pass by, and how the city’s air and streets shape the body.”
Oxo Tower Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf, SE1 9PH
Opening event: Friday 5 December, 18:30–20:30
Public exhibition: 6–7 December, 11:00–18:00
Instagram: @marieayodele_
