lay down your head

Ponch Hawkes spoke to women in the community who have experienced homelessness. She responded to their experiences by making work that documented places where they had found shelter and made their homes. As they recounted their stories, Hawkes noted down key phrases that reflected their experiences of being homeless. Ten photographs, each captioned with a sentence, are reconstructions of moments in these women's lives. They work in concert with each other to capture something of the transience, vulnerability, fragility and uncertainty inherent in not having a safe space for themselves or their family members.

untitled (i)

“Waited two weeks to be able to buy credit. I’m always waiting for a miracle call”

untitled (ii)

“I would die for my daughter, I just don’t want her to be in a bad situation. I want something safe and secure”

untitled (iii)

”When I got kicked out of home my friend’s nana let me sleep in her room”

untitled (iv)

“Trouble is you have to wake up early before people are around gawking at you in your car”

untitled (v)

“Couches ? I can’t tell you the number I’ve slept on. You cant sleep in tho’ “

untitled (vi)

“Someone was always coming into your room. The landlord can practically do anything they want”

untitled (vii)

“They said I could stay there for a few weeks until I found a place. At least I knew where my things were, I felt safe"

untitled (viii)

“There is actually nothing available for a woman and child forced to leave their home”

 untitled (ix)

“I hide my stuff anywhere it can’t be found, sleeping rough is both good and bad, it's tweaked my radar to danger, sometimes I move many times in one night”

untitled (x)

“I never thought it could happen to me. It happened so quickly, all of a sudden I was homeless and sleeping on friends’ couches”

Ponch HAWKES

Untitled IX  2020 (detail)

from the series Lay down your head

chromogenic print

120.0 x 120.0 cm

collection of the artist

courtesy of the artist