My Mission, My Vision and My Motivation

My name is Ffion and i am long term homeless. People assume that homelessness effects only the unloved and uncared for, people without family or children, that couldn't be further from the truth. For many years i have lived a transient lifestyle, sofa surfing, lodging in spare rooms, house shares, and supported accommodation, and not to long ago I was placed in a pub's b and b, as a temporary measure, while the local authority, attempted to support me into a private rental, they were however unable to do this, and they wouldn't continue to keep me where I was, and I didn't wish to remain there long term it wasn't suitable for many reasons.

For many years I aimlessly chased my tail, and tried to fight the system, seemingly being redesigned each day, to keep people like me out. People think that life on benefits is an easy ride, and that people who don't work, are living the high life, and have it better than many who work, while there was once a stay home culture, a whole generation of people who felt working was a waste of their time, because in fairness, MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT, was and continues to be extremely difficult to find. Now more than ever. but this resulted in a nationwide benefits overhaul, the introduction of universal credit, zero hour contracts, minimum wage is no longer a living wage, and even households with two full time, working adults or more seem to struggle to survive in a way that reflects the hours they work.

My parent made it look so easy and effortless...........

Poverty no longer effects just the unemployed, and though I consider myself to be one of the lucky long term homeless and this "perfect storm" was forecast some time ago, by a charity. The charity aimed only to raise awareness and advocate for better terms for the general people in the uk back in 2012 . This campaign was rubbished by those in power and the charity was smeared, and fell under scrutiny, and eventually led to the charity stepping back from uk politics and campaigns of this nature, the backlash just wasn't worth risking the hard work of the organisation, its valued volunteers and the fantastic, worthy causes they championed.

As person with limited means, and having a relatively fair understanding of the blocks to people like myself to social housing. I had spent 4 years tirelessly begging for SUITABLE housing, for myself and my family, when I was living on a farm in the welsh mountains, it occurred to me how much time I had spent chasing my tail and getting nowhere. There were more blocks than bridges for people like me.

So I swallowed that bitter pill, in spite of my need for my own space, and my desire for independence and wanting to rebuild the life I had, had before I went to residential rehab, I was desperate to make home for my kids to come back to, I have three amazing children who live with my mother and father, and a special guardianship. I have always wanted them home I will always want them home!!! they are my greatest achievement and no matter how bad things get they keep me grounded and have saved me from myself more than they will ever know. I will never give up while they are watching. I also saw how my distress at not having my own home was having a negative impact on my children and if not for me, for them i had to shelf that dream, no matter how seemingly basic that need was, i accepted my homlessness, and stopped wasting time trying to get housed.

I refused to let it beat me, or consume me, and with the encouragement of my friends and family, I applied to University and enrolled on The art and design foundation course at UWTSD, Swansea.

Enter deadly virus......... I wont pretend I didn't feel slightly cheated out of the rite of passages normal student enjoy, freshers week, meeting my peers, the numberous workshops myself and the entire class as a collective had enrolled for, all cancelled.

I see now though how that may have been a blessing because I am not an early morning person so online lessons saved me money on the commute and time, valued hours of rest and recreation that would have been spent on buses and waiting around bored before and after university and being a non driver. It also afforded me the gift of time travel within my studies and i was able to retake many lessons when I wasn't sure that I understood and for lack of confidence, and fear of sounding stupid, and I often doubted myself. In my defence, my course coordinator gave me my place, but made no secret of the fact she had doubts I would manage, and i see why, I have disabilities and mental health issues, homeless, in recovery from addiction.........

I dont look good on paper, I'm no oil painting in person but i have personality and you cant buy that!!!!!

Despite feeling like an imposter I engaged with the course I developed some really awesome bonds with tutors, Shellie Holden you F**king Rock!!!! Kath Clewett thank you for taking a chance on me!!! Craig Wood you inspire me and i loved working with you!!!! Becky and Jason, you guys were always a pleasure you created awesome online workshops that really influenced the kind of art I wanna make and how i wanna make it and you always had time to help anybody!!! You guys adapted overnight and delivered an amazing course in place of the face to face, traditional, tried and tested method!!! Thank you for all you taught the foundation class of 2020.

Having spent my youth desperately trying to escape formal education, i left school with 2 GCSE'S to my name, neither of which was gonna make headlines, ENGLISH C, WELSH C. I went on to collage but my course was vocational and it wasn't done out of a passion to work in that field but the feeling I HAD to be doing something productive, to pacify my parents if nothing else. After two years and a handful of NVQ'S later I was bored with beauty and holistic therapy. Art was a passion i came to later in life and despite the genral shock from friends that i had chosen art, because everybody thought that i would study creative writing, a long established hobby of mine, I knew i wanted to make something more than just writing.

This summer i got the news that i had achieved a final grade of 2:1!!!! Against all odds I completed something, and saw it through to the end for the first time in 17 years. This was so much more than i had ever dreamt i could even achieve, after years of closed doors, and feeling unispired i was suddenly surrounded by oppertunities, and for the first time in a long time, i found doors opening for me. And through my recent studies i had stumbled upon the sustainability issue and it immediately grabbed my attention. I have lived in a rural part of wales all of my life, i grew up blessed, surrounded by nature, and have a long standing respect for our planet, I saw all artists were now working sustainably, arcitechture is now designed to benefit the enviroment, through innovative engineering and design and building methods, or renewable energy, zero plastic policies, recycled paper promises, the textile industry is even catching up and more and more items are being made from recycled materials, the list is endless...... and within the art industry it seems to be at the forefront of many artists minds.

I thought that this was absolutely brilliant, and decided that i would to employ their sustainable ethics into my own practice during my studies and hopefully carry it into my proffessional practice in the future, and while i saw it was a common theme among artists across the board, it wasnt really until we were assigned our final module in uni that it really began take over.

We explored survival within art and were eventually tasked with creating a piece or collection pieces for exhibition. I am a survivor but it had never really occurred to me before this module how bloody complex survival is and as unique as a fingerprint, there's no blueprint or one size fits all solution, its more than just food and shelter we need more............. But i also know that as a homeless person having a shelter and base allows you to focus on bigger things, and my dream was just in storage, it wasn't dead. I decided to build a wildereness shelter and through this I rediscovered my interest in the tiny house/off grid movement that has been sweeping the entire globe in recent years, and with the kindness of a local private land owner i was afforded a space to create this structure, and document it. It was a pleasure to build and create and i remember thinking to myself that there were people not too far away who actually live in mud huts and various eco homes. " TeePee Valley".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8HEUBC0BU8

After a series of seemingly unfortunate events i finally made friend who, saw the best in me and not just the mess in me, and through getting to know one another, and developing a really valued friendship, i was insipred. This Woman was simply remarkable, and was part of an iconic group of activists who's only real mission was to "help" the overlooked and "empower" people who were just like me. My mind was blown and she inspired me to create this online community and space, that would empower people of all backgrounds and connect people seeking to make the change in lifestyle and live in small self contained communities. Whether these are privately owned and established or created through projects, schemes and movements that we can together create!!!!

Welcome aboard The Freedom Fighters Collective Wales!!!!!

Together we are stronger, lets move mountains, make waves and generally shake shit up!!!! I'm making this shit happen watch this space!!!!!!