The work will be exhibited as part of the Ten Feet Away Festival of Homeless Arts at the Oh! Art Gallery in Bethnal Green, east London.

The aim is to help homeless people socialise and be creative - last year about 300 artists and 800 visitors, many homeless, went to the festival.

Organiser Julia Farrington said: "We want to be seen, we want to be heard. We are proud of this."

The festival is run by the Union Chapel homelessness project, based at a church in Islington, and follows a year of workshops for homeless people.

The weekly workshops in poetry and painting attract about 25 homeless people who attend on a regular basis.

Ms Farrington added: "It's an opportunity to bring the public into contact with the work of homeless people, because it's one thing to develop all sorts of expressions and talents but we want the public to know about this."