Home > Our Projects > Exploring Futures of Care > We Keep Each Other Fed
Digital artwork that says
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
By Henry James Garrett

We Keep Each Other Fed

As the UK is gripped by the cost-of-living crisis, writer, illustrator and creator Henry James Garrett explores the notion of community and interdependence in his work We Keep Each Other Fed.

Produced in partnership with Creative Estuary.
Group 931
Share this

From 17 May 2022

Using his signature subversive, yet humorous, illustrations, Henry James Garrett’s (This Book Will Make You Kinder) work acknowledges the rising rate of food poverty whilst offering a signal to the power of mutual aid. Focusing on the benefit of reciprocal ecologies of care, We Keep Each Other Fed will see cartoons adorn open-access fridge spaces in East Kent – Our Kitchen – Our Food Club, Thanet, Canterbury Umbrella Centre’s Social Health CafĂ©, and Dover Pantry. These collaborating organisations all have dynamic approaches to community building, offering affordable or free healthy food and place making.

We Keep Each Other Fed asks whether art can be both practical and beautiful. Artist-designed enamel tokens will encourage donations and involvement in these local organisations, leading to the positive and reciprocal cycle of caring within our local communities.

The artworks were installed between 18 and 24 May and can be viewed below, along with photos of them in each of the spaces. A downloadable press release is also available at the bottom of the page.

I couldn’t have come up with a more fitting commission, and organisation to work with, had I sat down and tried to wish it up myself. All my art is aimed at making the world a kinder place, and I’m energised by the opportunity Futures of Care presents – particularly in this moment – to look forward, and to locate and imagine building on those practices that might make for more caring, resilient communities. It’s from community practices of mutual care that I believe the political possibilities we desperately need, will grow. Henry James Garrett
An illustration of an anthropomorphised tin of soup saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
An illustration of a group of four anthropomorphised tomatoes connected by a vine. One is saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Illustration of a group of anthropomorphised carrots, some orange and some purple. One is saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
An illustration of an anthropomorphised jar of jam saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork of multicoloured text reading
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork of multicoloured text reading
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork of multicoloured text reading
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork of multicoloured text reading
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork of multicoloured text reading
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork of multicoloured text in wavy lines with the text
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Digital artwork showing all of the different phrases included in this image gallery together in one image.
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
An illustration of anthropomorphised foods, including a packet of dried pasta shells, broccoli, an ear of corn, a group of mushrooms, a cauliflower, an apple and an aubergine.
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
An illustration of anthropomorphised foods, including half a loaf of bread in a clear plastic bag, a green bottle of liquid with a yellow lid, a wedge of cheese with holes in it, a carton of juice and a pack of 6 yogurts.
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Illustrations of various anthropomorphised foods, animals, a tree, soil, sun and clouds. There are criss-crossing lines connecting all of the foods, animals and other objects together. A piglet is saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Part of a digital artwork showing illustrations of anthropomorphised fruits and vegetables and animals. There are dozens of criss-crossing lines drawn between all of the foods and animals, as well as lines disappearing off the edges of the image. A piglet has a speech bubble saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Photo of a shop unit front window, with a large banner reading
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of a vinyl decal on a wall, a group of four anthropomorphised tomatoes connected by a vine. One is saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of a vinyl decal on a wall, a group of four anthropomorphised tomatoes connected by a vine. One is saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of two smiling people standing in a community centre, gesturing upwards to a wall with a sign saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of vinyl decals on a wall. At the top one says
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of vinyl decals on a wall. There are small decals of anthropomorphised cauliflower and corn, and a large decal of a pot of jam saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of vinyl decals on a wall. There are small decals of anthropomorphised cauliflower and corn, and a large decal of a pot of jam saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of vinyl decals on a wall, they are anthropomorphised broccoli and carrots. One of the carrots is saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of a vinyl decal on a wall, saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of a vinyl decal on a wall, a group of anthropomorphised mushrooms, mostly smaller with one large mushroom in the centre.
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
photo of a community pantry set up similar to a small shop, with a wall of metal shelving full of tins and packets of food, a glass-fronted commercial fridge and chest freezer, and some free-standing shelving units full of grocery items. Above the shelves and fridges are some of the vinyl decals that have been described in the carousel above.
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of a row of metal shelving units stacked with various tins, jars and packets of food. Above the shelving are vinyl wall decals of anthropomorphised vegetables and the phrase
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
Photo of a person standing in a food pantry with racking of food and other groceries, gesturing up at a vinyl decal showing an anthropomorphised jar of jam saying
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett © People United
We Keep Each Other Fed Press Release

Funded by

Creative Estuary
Arts Council England