How Many Times Have You Walked Past Me?

How Many Times Have You Walked Past Me? is a public artwork by Blake Aitken that transforms Auckland's busiest civic square into a place of visibility, agency, and action.

Developed with people who have experienced homelessness, the project consists of 100 life-sized portrait busts installed throughout Te Komititanga Square. Each bust tells the story of a person who has too often gone unseen, inviting the public into a simple act of reciprocity: Leave a coin. Take a coin. Drop a coin. Change a life.

But this is more than an artwork. It is a model for converting reactive social spending into proactive opportunity. Through a combination of paid artistic collaboration, long-term financial support, and public participation, each participant is offered a dignified pathway toward greater stability and self-determination.

At its core, the project asks a simple question: How many times have you walked past someone sleeping rough? And what might change if, instead of walking past, we stopped long enough to see them?

Part monument, part social infrastructure, and part public conversation, How Many Times Have You Walked Past Me? explores the role art can play in creating a more visible, connected, and compassionate city.