They are a common image not only in major US cities: homeless people searching the streets with a flashlight for something to eat and use, sometimes on all fours. They often attract disgusted looks from passers-by, and they are also regularly victims of violence.
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An art campaign in New York wants to create more awareness and understanding for the needs of the homeless. “People who are forced to give up their verticality become easy prey for all forms of danger,” says artist William Pope L.
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That’s why he let around 140 people crawl through New York on their knees. They covered a total of around three kilometers on sidewalks in southern Manhattan on Saturday. In groups of about five people they crawled together about a block in a kind of relay from Greenwich Village to Union Square. Many onlookers stopped, some took part for a while.
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“Finally share the pain”
Most of the participants wore sportswear and knee pads, and artist Pope L. also put on a blindfold that was not completely opaque and put a flashlight in their hands. People ran ahead of them, sweeping the sidewalks and spraying perfume for them.
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Pope L. organized the performance together with the Public Art Fund, which takes care of art in public spaces in New York. Among other things, the campaign aims to draw attention to the suffering of the homeless.
The artist, who was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1955, is famous for his crawling actions – he has been crawling through the streets of New York and elsewhere for around 40 years, alone or with others.
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On Saturday, however, Pope L. did not take part himself. “This is not my crawling action today, I pass it on, after 40 years I want to finally share the pain.”
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