We Feed The UK @ Exterior Walls
8 February - 31 March 2024
We Feed The UK is a major storytelling campaign, pairing photographers and poets with the UK’s custodians of land, sea, soil and seed.
Food forms us, and producing it with care for human and more-than-human communities can re-form our home for the better. These are the stories of regenerative farmers, urban growers, sustainable fishers and grain rebels: the quiet revolutionaries with grassroots solutions to climate change, biodiversity collapse and social justice. The time is ripe to celebrate their efforts and inspire widespread support.
Across a country that is 71% farmland, where less than half of our biodiversity remains, restorative practices are the root to future resilience. The time is ripe to celebrate these efforts, in support of the regenerative agriculture transition.
We Feed The UK is a major arts project pairing critically acclaimed photographers and poets with regenerative farmers, urban growers, sustainable fishers and grain rebels: the UK’s custodians of land, soil, sea and seed. The campaign is a message of hope, showcasing grassroots solutions to climate change, the biodiversity crisis and social justice.
Grown by The Gaia Foundation with collaborators across the country, We Feed The UK brings together over 40 partners from the environment and arts sectors to tell time-critical stories across urban, rural and coastal areas, ranging from multi-generational, Black-led growing projects in London, to a majority-women workers cooperative in Edinburgh, via sustainable fishing along the south coast. Ten acclaimed photographers are nurturing close relationships with their subjects, shooting throughout the seasons. Their work, which will be exhibited nationwide with ten arts partners, ranges from experiments with bread by Magnum’s Lúa Ribeira, to a 12-month study on sustainable fishing by photographer Jon Tonks.Spoken word artists, from award-winning organisation Hot Poets, have crafted a collection of ten poems in a diversity of languages and regional dialects. This includes a celebration of hedgerows by beatboxing champion Testament, grain rebels by legendary poet-singer Dizraeli, and the soil by BBC Radio 4’s Kate Fox.
The exhibition is part of Open Eye Gallery’s LOOK Climate Lab 2024.
Photographers:
Aaron Schuman
Lua Ribeira
Jon Tonks
Arpita Shah
Johannah Churchill
Andy Pilsbury
Yvette Monahan
Sophie Gerrard
Ayesha Jones
Johannes Pretorius
Hot Poets:
Dizraeli
Testament
Jasmine Gardosi
Chris Redmond
Abby Oliveira
Kate Fox
Iona Lee
Zena Edwards
Bohdan Piasecki
Ifor Ap Glyn
Arts Partners
Open Eye Gallery
Martin Parr Foundation
Royal Photographic Society
Street Level Photoworks
Belfast Exposed
Penpont Estate
North East Photography Network (NEPN)
Photo Fringe
Multistory
GRAIN Projects
Environment Partners
Soil Association
Nature Friendly Farming Network
Sustain
Action for Conservation
Land Workers’ Alliance
UK & Ireland Seed
Sovereignty Programme
Sole of Discretion
Nourish NI
Pasture for Life
Image: Rob Battersby
We Feed The UK is a major storytelling campaign, pairing photographers and poets with the UK’s custodians of land, sea, soil and seed.
Food forms us, and producing it with care for human and more-than-human communities can re-form our home for the better. These are the stories of regenerative farmers, urban growers, sustainable fishers and grain rebels: the quiet revolutionaries with grassroots solutions to climate change, biodiversity collapse and social justice. The time is ripe to celebrate their efforts and inspire widespread support.
Across a country that is 71% farmland, where less than half of our biodiversity remains, restorative practices are the root to future resilience. The time is ripe to celebrate these efforts, in support of the regenerative agriculture transition.
We Feed The UK is a major arts project pairing critically acclaimed photographers and poets with regenerative farmers, urban growers, sustainable fishers and grain rebels: the UK’s custodians of land, soil, sea and seed. The campaign is a message of hope, showcasing grassroots solutions to climate change, the biodiversity crisis and social justice.
Grown by The Gaia Foundation with collaborators across the country, We Feed The UK brings together over 40 partners from the environment and arts sectors to tell time-critical stories across urban, rural and coastal areas, ranging from multi-generational, Black-led growing projects in London, to a majority-women workers cooperative in Edinburgh, via sustainable fishing along the south coast. Ten acclaimed photographers are nurturing close relationships with their subjects, shooting throughout the seasons. Their work, which will be exhibited nationwide with ten arts partners, ranges from experiments with bread by Magnum’s Lúa Ribeira, to a 12-month study on sustainable fishing by photographer Jon Tonks.Spoken word artists, from award-winning organisation Hot Poets, have crafted a collection of ten poems in a diversity of languages and regional dialects. This includes a celebration of hedgerows by beatboxing champion Testament, grain rebels by legendary poet-singer Dizraeli, and the soil by BBC Radio 4’s Kate Fox.
The exhibition is part of Open Eye Gallery’s LOOK Climate Lab 2024.
Photographers:
Aaron Schuman
Lua Ribeira
Jon Tonks
Arpita Shah
Johannah Churchill
Andy Pilsbury
Yvette Monahan
Sophie Gerrard
Ayesha Jones
Johannes Pretorius
Hot Poets:
Dizraeli
Testament
Jasmine Gardosi
Chris Redmond
Abby Oliveira
Kate Fox
Iona Lee
Zena Edwards
Bohdan Piasecki
Ifor Ap Glyn
Arts Partners
Open Eye Gallery
Martin Parr Foundation
Royal Photographic Society
Street Level Photoworks
Belfast Exposed
Penpont Estate
North East Photography Network (NEPN)
Photo Fringe
Multistory
GRAIN Projects
Environment Partners
Soil Association
Nature Friendly Farming Network
Sustain
Action for Conservation
Land Workers’ Alliance
UK & Ireland Seed
Sovereignty Programme
Sole of Discretion
Nourish NI
Pasture for Life
Image: Rob Battersby
