thepurplerain

The Purple Rain is an arts intervention that personalizes the global issue of homelessness. It seeks to generate greater visibility and empathy through an artistic response. The Purple Rain stresses the fact that, like the rain, this social phenomenon is becoming a downpour. Through the repetitive saturation of colour, created within defined urban spaces, Dimopoulos makes visible the often unseen and unheard. The artwork  integrates this saturation with our immersion in mobile technologies, inviting an interaction with the artwork. Confronted with the downpour, the viewer can choose to merely browse or to take action; at the very least to suspend judgment.

Homelessness does not mean hopelessness. The Purple Rain offers respect and dignity to the individual, introducing them by name, telling their stories of a future less adverse, their narratives leading word by word to the deeper social issues that exist at the root of homelessness. Psychological, social, personal and economic factors all work to create this ongoing dilemma in our communities. The number of people who are homeless continues to grow worldwide as financial stresses create social and psychological fallout.

In Melbourne, Australia, The Purple Rain is a collaborative project, the artist working with the Institute for Advancing Community Engagement of the Australian Catholic University; the City of Yarra, St Mary’s House of Welcome, STREAT; and Fehily Contemporary Gallery.