SEEN Exhibition review by Jonty Race

Thank you to Jonty Race for this write up about my exhibition earlier in the year. SEEN by Jack Eames exhibited at the Coningsby Gallery in April 2026 and showcased my ongoing personal photographic project with charity Haircuts4Homeless. Jonty’s piece below beautifully captures the essence of the project.

SEEN: The Exhibition Which Sees Beauty in Caring For The Homeless

by Jonty Race www.jontyrace.co.uk

Ear to ear smiles, laughter, confidence – these are the signs of humanity brought about when we care for another human being, as lensed by Jack Eames for his first personal photography exhibition ‘SEEN’ in partnership with Haircuts4Homeless and Capture One. 

Jack Eames has been photographing haircutting sessions, organised by Stewart Roberts MBE’s charity Haircuts4Homeless in conjunction with other vital services, for the better part of a decade. A beauty photographer working globally, Eames’s work with industry mainstays rarely leaves the confines of the highly produced studio environment. “We’re in this incredibly privileged industry,” he tells me, “I’d reached a point where I just had to get involved in a project that was community based and about change.” After seeing Roberts charity work across social media, “I contacted Stewart, we met for a cuppa and we got on well. I went to my first session in Whitechapel. I didn’t take a single picture on that first session because I was really just taking it all in” he says. A moment from that first experience left a lasting impression, “this guy was just going down to Brighton that afternoon to get the final part of access to his son with the social services for six years, and he needed his haircut and some looking after, some food, and I was listening to him telling the volunteer hairstylist, I heard that story, and I saw the beauty in the sessions. I felt it was something I really wanted to commit to.” 

If there is one take away from Eames’s characterful black and white portraits, it’s that the simple act of giving a haircut is transformative in more ways than one. “It happens every day in Barbers, Hairdressers and Salons across the county, people going to get their haircuts. They love it because they can walk in and unload all their troubles,” says Stewart Roberts MBE, founder of the charity Haircuts 4 Homeless. For a homeless person “who hasn't had any of that for six months, you can imagine that feeling a thousand fold,” he adds. This is a sentiment echoed by the iconic hairstylist Sam McKnight, a supporter of the charity. In the foreword to ‘Hear Me See Me’, the crowdfunded photobook, preceding ‘SEEN’, which catalogs the work of Eames and Robers, and snippets of conversations captured by Leigh Keates at sessions across the UK, Mcknight writes that ‘Having that careful attention to our appearance is one of the joys of life. We all know that it’s not just a haircut,” adding that “What these guys do gives respect and dignity to people who have been denied those qualities.” 

The SEEN exhibition derives its name from the idea that “Our guests often feel unseen and unheard,” Roberts tells me. The haircuts for homeless charity, which began as solely the veteran hairdresser and his sister Berlinda, has grown to become a charity of 600 volunteers, who set aside a few hours every four to six weeks to cut the hair of those left behind in society. “For someone who hasn't been talked to and feels ignored, when they get such a personal service that's a sort of magic connection, because we break through the barrier. Anyone who visits the projects and sees it in action really gets an understanding of how powerful what we do is,” he tells me. “You’d think that people wouldn't want to be photographed, but what Jack does in an incredible way is make people feel at home, he’s such a lovely gentle man, he’s the perfect partner for us to do this.” 

Capturing someone’s likeness is incredibly personal, “You have moments to work out how you are going to create something with that person. There are no assistants, no team, no lighting, nothing,” Eames tells me of his minimalist approach to documentary photography. During the sessions change happens by the second, “There’s a lot of fun, and a lot of tenderness. There are people who just burst into tears by having a lovely haircut, a lovely time and by being listened to.