Shepard Fairey’s Burnham cover puts rough sleeping pledge in focus

Shepard Fairey, the US street artist whose portrait of Barack Obama became a defining image of the 2008 presidential campaign, has turned his attention to UK prime minister Andy Burnham. His latest artwork, commissioned by the Big Issue, is intended to keep Burnham’s commitment to tackling rough sleeping in public view.

Titled Home, the portrait shows Burnham wearing a red Big Issue tabard during a 2023 outing selling the magazine alongside a vendor named Colin, when Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester. It will appear on the cover of a new collectors’ edition, available from street vendors from Monday. The work will also be unveiled at London’s Saatchi Gallery as part of Beyond the Streets, a six-month exhibition of street culture.

Fairey’s Obama image, Hope, became one of the most widely reproduced political portraits of modern times and eventually entered the Smithsonian. With Home, the artist said his aim was to communicate warmth while reminding viewers that Burnham had personally helped promote and sell the Big Issue before becoming prime minister.

The Big Issue approached Fairey to create the artwork. He described justice as a continuing motivation in his work and said putting a visual reminder of a political pledge into thousands of hands could make it harder for politicians to avoid accountability. He welcomed the prospect of the portrait reaching the public.

An accompanying interview in the magazine sets out Burnham’s position on rough sleeping. The prime minister said nobody should have to sleep on the streets, while acknowledging that some people would not accept a route away from them. He said the funding provided would allow him to ask every council to make an offer of help to everyone.

Burnham also argued that public funding must remain consistent even when seasonal concern about homelessness diminishes. He said sympathy often rises towards the end of the year before fading in the early months of the next. Interruptions in support were unfair to organisations working with rough sleepers, he said, describing the problem as solvable through a national effort.

Big Issue managing director Russell Blackman placed the cover among the magazine’s most significant in its 35-year history. During that period, he said, it had supported 110,000 vendors, whose sales of more than 230 million copies had generated £162 million in earnings. Blackman said the portrait could become part of Burnham’s legacy if his ambitions were fulfilled, or remain a visible reminder if they were not.

The limited edition can also be ordered through the Big Issue’s online shop by readers unable to buy from a vendor. Beyond the Streets runs at the Saatchi Gallery from 11 November 2026 to 5 May 2027.