MyLondon is a project which has a goal of empowering people affected by homelessness through a contest run every summer.
The 2023 MyLondon contest was in late May and early June, 2023, resulting in more than 2,000 photos being taken by 85 people who have lived experience of homelessness.
READ: MyLondon contest on 6 July 2022
The project involves photography training, an exhibition and the printing and selling of calendars, greeting cards and photographs. The calendars are sold like a street newspaper, in that the vendor earns 50% of the sale price.
Participants, all of whom have been homeless, mainly come from art groups run by homelessness-sector organisations, including Crisis, St Mungo's, 240 Project, The Connection at St Martin's in the Field and more.
MYLONDON aims to:
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create a safe and social environment where participants feel comfortable and confident to artistically express themselves.
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inspire people affected by homelessness across London to create sustainable change in their lives through confidence building, learning new skills and social inclusion.
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increase understanding of the issues surrounding homelessness in a positive way.
We are supported in kind by The RPS, Fujifilm, Jessops and endorsed by Homeless Link, the umbrella charity for all UK Homelessness sector organisations. The project is self-funding from calendar sales and photograph rentals, and receives no government money.
The MyLondon calendar is a quality product - a real art calendar. The goal is to sell as many as we can and raise as much as we can for the participants who took the photos and sell the calendars.
MyLondon photo archive
"Café Art has brought photography and the homeless together in a ground-breaking initiative that is bringing real benefit to those participating. The calendar itself brings direct support but, equally important, is the raising of self-esteem and confidence for those taking part. It is a small project but it is making a big difference."
Dr M Pritchard
The Royal Photographic Society
MyBudapest Photo Project joined the MyWorld group of photo projects in 2016. The project is run in Hungary by Budapest Bike Maffia.
Budapest Bike Maffia is one of the fastest-growing Hungarian non-profit organisations, brought into being on Christmas Eve 2011 by a group of young cyclists. They aim to make a difference by helping those in need in an innovative way. They place emphasis on empathic behaviour to create a more
liveable world.
MyBudapest project coordinators Zsuzska Molnar and Bernadett Fekete would like to draw attention to the problem of homeless people with art. The long term purpose of the initiative is to integrate marginalised people and help
their social reintegration.
MyToronto - Ve’Ahavta, a homelessness sector charity in Toronto also approached us after the 2015 MyLondon Kickstarter went viral. MyToronto has now produced three calendars (2018, 2019 and 2020).
MinhaSão Paulo Paul Ryan from MyLondon ran this project in São Paulo in November 2015. The project was initially a one-off pilot as part of an exchange between arts-based enterprises. Organized by With One Voice with the People’s Palace Projects, as a pilot it was a success in many ways, including the photography contest and the media attention it received. The MinhaSão Paulo calendar was sold by the participants of the project and Café Art in London also sold 120 calendars. Café Art does not have a permanent base in Brazil (yet!) but we do have a great website which was created for us for the project. It might give other projects an idea about how to promote a project. See the Café Art MinhaSão Paulo website here. Cilque qui por leia mais. If you would like to contact us about supporting MyLondon or setting up your own single-use camera photography project please contact us at info@cafeart.org.uk
MyNew Orleans Photo Project has been happening sine 2016. They have connected with the New Orleans Photography Alliance and in early April 2016 went to the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference in the University of California in Berkeley California. The meeting brought together more than 1,200 innovative student leaders to make Commitments to Action in CGI U's five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health and they used the photography project with people affected by homelessness in New Orleans as their proposed project idea.
MySydney Michael Allwright contacted Café Art in September 2015 and by November MySydney was a reality. Michael and Sophie Smit partnered with the Wayside Chapel, a centre focused on the connection between homeless people and the wider community, handed out cameras and produced the MySydney calendar in November. In December MySydney had a feature article on ABC and the Daily Telegraph.
Run by local volunteer Lucy Grounewoud, last year the exhibition had 146 photos taken by people who are currently homeless or had recently been homeless. One hundred single-use Fujifilm Quicksnap cameras were handed out last year in late June and early July.
Based on the MyLondon project, the 2019 MYBRIGHTON & HOVE calendar was launched on Wednesday 10 October 2018, World Homeless Day.