How Many Times Have You Walked Past Me?
Leave a coin. Take a coin. Drop a coin. Change a life.
A Public Installation That Humanises Homelessness, Creates Lasting Change, and Leaves a Permanent Mark on Auckland.
The City Has Already Said Yes Twice
Phase One: Proof of Concept
Phase One: Proof of Concept
We interrupted the daily commute with something unexpected but harmless.
126,000 people stopped.
They scanned, they looked, they talked.
126,000 people stopped.
They scanned, they looked, they talked.
Turning spare change into civic infrastructure.
Nine coin bowls.
Nine charities. One QR scan.
One simple ritual.
Nine coin bowls.
Nine charities. One QR scan.
One simple ritual.
The Final Yes: Invest in Agency
Phase Two: The First Ten
Ten portrait busts.
Ten stories.
Ten pathways.
This is the foundation we are currently building.
Phase Three: The Following Ninety
100 busts.
A city square transformed.
A new civic ritual.
A record of the seen.
Te Komititanga Square.
719,341 crossed here in November 2025.
How many walked past someone sleeping rough?
How many times have you?
Right now, Auckland spends $65,000 per person, per year on crisis response—emergency services, healthcare, policing. A reactive spend that changes nothing.
For 100 people living rough on our streets, this is an alternative one-time investment that makes a viable, agency-filled pathway out possible.
A $40,000 one-time investment.
719,341 crossed here in November 2025.
How many walked past someone sleeping rough?
How many times have you?
Right now, Auckland spends $65,000 per person, per year on crisis response—emergency services, healthcare, policing. A reactive spend that changes nothing.
For 100 people living rough on our streets, this is an alternative one-time investment that makes a viable, agency-filled pathway out possible.
A $40,000 one-time investment.
How This Works
For the Participant
The Equation of Dignity: $30/Hour earned to co-create → $30,000 reserved for their future. A Hand Up. Not a Handout.
The Equation of Dignity: $30/Hour earned to co-create → $30,000 reserved for their future. A Hand Up. Not a Handout.
For the Public
The Human Exchange. Beside their story, the simple invitation: LEAVE A COIN / TAKE A COIN / DROP A COIN. No guilt, no complexity—just active reciprocity.
The Human Exchange. Beside their story, the simple invitation: LEAVE A COIN / TAKE A COIN / DROP A COIN. No guilt, no complexity—just active reciprocity.
For the City
Art as Civic Infrastructure. The permanent marker records a life redirected, born from your choice to make it possible. It represents the successful conversion of the city's ∼$65,000 annual reactive cost.
Art as Civic Infrastructure. The permanent marker records a life redirected, born from your choice to make it possible. It represents the successful conversion of the city's ∼$65,000 annual reactive cost.
Your Role: Become a Founding Custodian
This is not a donation. This is a $40,000 commitment to Ethical Leadership—the chance to become the catalyst who converts a systemic civic cost into a permanent human solution founded on dignity.
Funding a Life Redirected.
Your $40,000 commitment fully secures one person's dignified option and the ultimate civic solution for the city.
This is not a donation. This is a $40,000 commitment to Ethical Leadership—the chance to become the catalyst who converts a systemic civic cost into a permanent human solution founded on dignity.
Your $40,000 commitment fully secures one person's dignified option and the ultimate civic solution for the city.
Your Return: Impact & Leadership
This is the essence of the Custodianship. You are investing in systemic change, and your returns are measured in verifiable civic impact, not just financial donations.
You are not a Donor. You are a Custodian of Change.
This is the essence of the Custodianship. You are investing in systemic change, and your returns are measured in verifiable civic impact, not just financial donations.
You are not a Donor. You are a Custodian of Change.
| The Permanent Legacy | A bronze plaque bearing your name is set into the pavement of the square, serving as a permanent marker of your choice to convert systemic failure into a pathway of dignity. |
| The Tangible Asset | You receive the physical, co-created portrait bust after its public exhibition, securing a unique piece of art and a physical record of a successful human intervention. |
| A Voice in the Model | You gain a critical position to help refine and scale this model of Art as Civic Infrastructure across the city and beyond. |
Endorsed by those who know dignity
This model is supported by Lifewise and Auckland City Mission — not as funders, but as partners who believe in agency over charity.
How to Join
We are building a coalition of ethical leaders who believe in investing in visibility. Your support can take many forms:
We are building a coalition of ethical leaders who believe in investing in visibility. Your support can take many forms:
| As a Founding Custodian | Commit $40,000 to fully fund one bust, one dignified pathway, and one permanent plaque. You become the catalyst for a verifiable civic solution. |
| As a Group | Pool resources with others—colleagues, friends, or community—to collectively fund a bust. We will help structure the group investment and ensure all contributors receive acknowledgment. |
| As a Connector | Know someone who is an ethical leader or a strategic investor? Make the introduction. Your vital role as a catalyst will be acknowledged in the project’s permanent record. |
| As a Believer | Share this model. Talk about it. Help shift the narrative from walking past to stopping, seeing, and supporting the vision of Art as Civic Infrastructure. |
The Final Choice
This project is not a solution. It’s an option.
An option for someone to be seen and supported with dignity.
An option for the city to invest in visibility, not invisibility.
An option for you to help build a city that doesn’t just walk past.
→ I will be a Founding Custodian → I want to form a group → I will connect you to someone → Send me the brief
Blake Aitken
blakeaitkenwork@gmail.com | +64 27 536 4850
This project is not a solution. It’s an option.
An option for someone to be seen and supported with dignity.
An option for the city to invest in visibility, not invisibility.
An option for you to help build a city that doesn’t just walk past.
Will you take the option?
→ I will be a Founding Custodian → I want to form a group → I will connect you to someone → Send me the brief
Blake Aitken
blakeaitkenwork@gmail.com | +64 27 536 4850