During the last decade there has been a significant, sustained attack on people’s right to housing, particularly in working class communities.
Finding an answer to the problem of creating our own space to show work and create our own discourse around issues like housing, employment, unemployment and the treatment of refugees.
In June 2017, Andrew Cooper was campaigning and creating art about the destructive demolition of housing estates in Lambeth and its impact on residents. During this time, he learned of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in West London. On July 2nd, he attended an Eid ceremony for the victims and met those caring for the memorial space beneath the nearby motorway flyover.
Art Sparking Resistance was a one day event, fuelling art as a medium for social change and celebration in real situations. It was a place where art work, films, sculptures, banners, puppets, effigies, used in resistance and celebration, were brought together.
Brimstone House, meant as temporary emergency housing, has trapped families for years in cramped, single-room flats plagued by damp, mould, and no privacy—an unfit place for anyone, especially mothers and children, to live and grow.
Focus E15 (Housing Campaign London) Banner started on the streets in solidarity with the people of Bolivia and Evo Morales during the CIA orchestrated coup in 2019 and the resistance to it.
This page aims to compile and link the hundreds of images of work Andrew Cooper has created, along with collaborative projects he has undertaken, primarily with others fighting for housing justice. The main outline of his proposed research is presented in the proposal, and this page serves as a supplementary resource.
This performance makes use of the puppets developed mostly from furniture and domestic timber that speaks back for the proper use of housing, as the housing feels slandered because the housing crisis is man made.
On Saturday, 2nd March 2024, the Focus E15 group held a large street event for children affected by housing issues. In Newham, 1 in 12 children are homeless. Our weekly Saturday gatherings, known as “stalls,” serve as spaces where we come together and occupy the street for a few hours, offering support and solidarity.
The Scrubs Project transforms discarded materials into something meaningful, this image transforms the detritus of thought into a powerful visual statement. It reminds us that even in the face of fragmentation, there is always the potential for creation, for meaning, and for connection.
This is a graphic representation of a factual article by Simon Elmer of Architects for Social Housing about the ongoing massive robbery of our public housing, land, and buildings.
Imperialism, decaying capitalism an introduction.
Andrew Cooper Unseen 