Painting a voice for the homeless | Artist Portraits in Sydney
Andrew Mcleay was filmed for Channel 10 this week, which sparked me to share and highlight his story and life, giving to those in such need.
The standard and talent of Australian artists and other photographers has blown me away. A sense of pride is definitely felt at how much home grown capability we have as Australians. I love to photograph artists portraits in Sydney and this week’s blog post is to celebrate an incredible painter, who I had the pleasure to photograph a couple of years back.
Since then, Sydney man, Andrew McLean has gained incredible traction and success not only with his art but with his personal project too.
Read on to find out what makes this man such an incredibly special human being!
Moving to London from Sydney in 2008 Andrew experienced first hand, how easily homelessness can occur and how harsh the consequences are for those who have nowhere to live. While helping out in a soup kitchen on his own accord, Andrew felt a strong connection to those coming in to dine and decided to embrace his personal talent in painting by creating portraiture of some of the incredible people he met.
Andrew takes a photograph of his subject then using oil on canvas to not only paint their portrait to create movement, emotion and texture, telling their story in such a raw and honest way. Incredibly, Andrew gifts his portraits to his subject as he feels it allows them to feel a great sense of importance, which they very much are. Throughout history painted portraits were commissioned by kings and queens and noblemen and so to create a portrait of someone, gives them a feeling of pride, power and significance. A hope that Andrew feels, gives the confidence that someone may need to help take steps in the right direction to full-fill their life in a more positive way.
We’ve recently seen Andrew make headlines here on our own screen but he’s accomplishments are no stranger to English headlines. His work is admirable and has been showcased in the media a number or times. His paintings can now be sold and all profits are redirected back Ealing soup kitchen. Giving back total earnings from his paintings allows him to keep soup kitchens open especially during these pressing COVID-19 circumstances. Now more than ever people are in need of help and it’s people like Andrew who are out there doing just that.
Opening his soup kitchens in 2014 in a local church, he’s been running them 3 nights a week, but has since had to increase that due to higher demand. Up to 900 people have been attending his soups kitchens lately each week.
Not everyone is homeless, some have lost their jobs, have fallen on hard times or just need a helping hand or a safe place to go.
Here at Jazzy Photography we can’t praise Andrew and his team enough for the work that they do to help this amazing cause. You can follow Andrew and his journey on Facebook or visit the website here. Don’t be surprised when you see his name in the papers or on the news again soon!
Raising awareness for people who do not have a loud enough voice is admirable and we wish you all the very best of luck Andrew and the Ealing Soup Kitchen Team!
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