Foodbank Stories

In 2020 I volunteered to help in my local community. Within weeks the group decided to set up a foodbank to better support local people who were struggling. Volunteering for the foodbank inspired several creative projects over the last couple of years celebrating volunteers and giving creative activities to foodbank users alongside the bare essentials of life. 

These two pieces were created in response to my volunteering.

1292 Foodbank Visits in 18 Weeks

This is a stitched graph or diagram of the foodbank user numbers in the first 18 weeks. The first users in week one are at the centre, with the numbers going up enormously over the 18 weeks I collected the data. This was very slow to stitch as I kept count. The slow, painstaking work was part of the reflective process of making this piece and thinking about the really tough lives of the foodbank users. 

Hand stitched on vintage blue cotton, a very familiar and domestic kind of cloth which seemed appropriate for the narrative. 

Mapping

This piece accompanies 1292 Foodbank Visits in 18 Weeks as a visual recording of foodbank data. This stitched map marks all the foodbank deliveries made in one week during 2020. The foodbank is marked with X. The cloth is folded like a map and the data is enclosed within. I used an old tea towel because of the domestic, normal world it represents and the connection with food. 

Hand stitched with naturally-dyed threads made with plants grown in Leicester on vintage tea towel. 

Part of Cultures of Care

This is part of my two-year Cultures of Care project funded by Arts Council England 2023-2025. 

Cultures of Care is an umbrella for several creative activities including residencies with community organisations, research projects in museums and new work on topics such as migration, destroyed communities and other hidden stories of care and damage of people, places and objects.