In March 2023 the Department for Work and Pensions published statistics on food bank use for the first time, which showed that in the pervious 12 months, 2.3 million people in the UK used a food bank.

The first foodbank was opened in the UK in 2000 and since then, due to government austerity policies and the rising cost of living, the level of need has grown exponentially.

Foodbanks are now as common a feature of life in the UK as a discussion about the weather, but those who donate something to a collection basket at the end of their shop in a local supermarket or through a local campaign often have little idea of what life is like for those who are forced into food poverty..

This project which was completed with the aid of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), and was designed to highlight the level of need but also the experience of visiting or volunteering at a foodbank centre. They are found at venues from churches to garages, mosques to community centres. The level of kindness and giving that I have witnessed in each one is written in the fabric of the contents and the bones of each building. They are filled with the everyday items that are so familiar to us all, and yet for millions of people both in and out of work, are now becoming out of reach.