We Keep Each Other Fed – A Film

In the summer of 2022, as part of our Futures of Care programme, People United commissioned artist Henry James Garrett to adorn three community pantries in East Kent with his subversive but humorous illustrations.

The collaborating organisations – Our Kitchen in Margate, Canterbury Umbrella Centre’s Social Health Café and Dover Pantry – all offer affordable or free healthy food, and at the same time contribute to community-led placemaking via their dynamic, collaborative approach to community-building. Henry’s intention was to reflect on the rising rate of food poverty in the UK, to celebrate the work of the three pantries, and to reinforce the importance of reciprocal care, which is at the heart of the kitchens’ ethos.

Reciprocity is also a central theme in an essay that Henry wrote as part of his commission, which reflects on how we all play a part in the vast web of interdependence that is a necessary part of being human.

As we neared the end of the project, we commissioned Margate Films to make a film about our collaboration with Henry and Our Kitchen in Margate, helping us shine a light on the people behind this vital community space and, through Henry’s illustrations, explore what interdependence means, day to day, for those who work in and use this community kitchen.

We Keep Each Other Fed is part of People United’s Futures of Care, a multi-faceted arts programme which took place across East Kent in 2021 and 2022, supported by Arts Council England, Creative Estuary, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust and Kent County Council.