The museum and gallery sector has had a terse relationship with vagrancy and homelessness. It would seem that industry proprietors are more likely to hose a homeless person off their steps than pay homage to them through an exhibition.
The Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), however, regularly displays Evicted (1887) by Blandford Fletcher. It depicts a mother and daughter, paltry possessions in tow, exiting their former residence with deprecating looks from remaining residents. Former curator of International Art at QAGOMA, David Burnett, says that although social realism ‘fell out of favour’ after the Victorian Era, this painting has significant currency in light of the housing crisis that has befallen Australian society, and some groups in particular. A 2020 study by the Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) showed that 405,000 women over the age of 45, in particular, were shown to be at risk of homelessness.
