Protest against the price of rent through art. During the month of May, in Brighton (East Sussex) a festival is organized where 180 places and houses open their doors to lovers of art and crafts. Bryony Devitt, frustrated at not being a homeowner, asked the organizers of Brighton Artists Open Houses to open the doors to her home but in a doll’s house version.
A white box, two movable doors behind which six rooms on three floors are revealed, and even an attic. A real house called POH (portable open house) but minimal in size. “I thought I’m going to find a house I can afford and I found a doll’s house,” Bryony Devitt told the BBC. She imagined an entire interior in her image, her painting room, her kitchen, even the functional television in the living room. All these small objects were made by local and international artists.
This festival has existed since the 1980s and is a meeting place for locals. The artist grew up in this seaside town and has always been an admirer of these art houses. Failing to bring visitors to her, she walks her dollhouse around the city.
This English illustrator has never been able to afford the luxury of buying a house, and still has difficulty renting one, like many young people in the United Kingdom. The countries of Great Britain have suffered a 9% increase in rent prices in one year according to the Office for National Statistics. Significant prices which have resulted in double the number of homeless people in the city of Brighton. By 2023 one in 88 people in Brighton will be homeless, according to data from Shelter, an organization campaigning for tenants’ rights.