Published on December, 2016 (from the power of clothes No. 17)
The Pure Joy of Personal Expression
Well-known artist Jason Polan drawing pictures up
close with children living in New York shelters.
The UNIQLO 5th Avenue store is just a stone’s throw from MoMA.
Its numerous collaborative MoMA events help make the store a focal spot for New Yorkers.
The number of children in the US who can’t live in their own house is rising every year. Homelessness is becoming increasingly serious in New York as well.
People lose their homes for many different reasons. Unemployment is an obvious one, but soaring rents and domestic violence are also to blame.
Lose your house and you also lose the table you ate at every day, the bed you slept in, the bath you washed in, the sofa you sat on to watch TV and play with pets. It can be really tough on the kids who have to cope with their parents’ changing circumstances.
A New York City survey conducted in summer 2016 revealed the worst results ever, with over 80,000 children at state-funded elementary schools who have already lost homes and are living in shelters or with relatives or friends.
Jason Polan and staff at the UNIQLO 5th Avenue store came up with the idea of inviting children living in shelters to a half-day in-store drawing workshop. We were in the middle of planning T-shirts featuring Jason Polan sketches, and arranging some exclusive drawing events at the store using Jason’s hand-written map of Manhattan, so the suggestion to hold a drawing event for homeless children just emerged naturally as part of that process.
“I used to draw as a kid all the time. I want these kids to experience how much fun drawing can be, and also, selfishly, I want to draw with them!” said Jason.
Could such a small thing help these kids in any way? We won’t know unless we try. Then, let’s do it.
