Londoners: Frank by Bart Janssen

Frank is the 1st of a series of portraits of homeless Londoners. The portrait invites the viewer to contemplate the subject's condition. The modelling process was intense and sometimes awkward. As the sculptor concentrates on his work and the conversion stalls, the model slides off as well into his world. It is that moment that is captured here: Frank sliding off in his empty and lonely world, staring into an existential abyss. It is heartbreaking and feels uncomfortable, inappropriate even, witnessing, observing, the moment that somebody goes under in sadness and dispair. On the street a lot of us would avoid eye contact with homeless people, with my portraits I want to invite the viewer to stop for a moment and contemplate the coldness and immense solitude of a crippled existence.