'Homeless in Covid' - Iain McLean
6th July - 30th September 2022
Hillhead Library
Download the Homeless in Covid Newspaper
'Homeless in Covid' is a collaboration between photographer Iain McLean and Simon Community Scotland which seeks to challenge our pre-conceived ideas of those affected by homelessness.
The project came into being when the photographer started volunteering with Simon Community Scotland at their warehouse in April 2020. Iain wanted to work with a charity during the COVID-19 pandemic and to document the work they were doing. This evolved into a powerful set of photographs depicting some of the people Simon Community work with, as well as documenting important the work the charity do across the city.
By gaining the trust and consent of everyone he photographed the photographer found that his own perception of people who experience homelessness was being challenged – the more people he met, the more it became apparent that anyone could be affected. It was just down to circumstance, with the resulting set of portraits challenging the common perception of what someone experiencing homeless should look like. As well as the portraits, he invited the sitters to hold items which were important to them, with the hand serving as a metaphor for hope and openness, whilst also symbolising the COVID crisis and our heightened awareness of hand cleanliness.
Hillhead Library
348 Byres Road
Glasgow G12 8AP
Opening Times:
Friday 10am – 5pm
Saturday 10am – 2pm
Sunday 12 – 5pm
Monday 10am – 8pm
All Images: © Iain McLean
