The Trussel Trust food bank in Newcastle’s West End is the largest in Britain. It distributes food to more than 1,000 people each week.
Food packages and other items related to the food bank were collected as part of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' contemporary collecting programme. The aim was to reflect the important issue of food poverty in Tyneside and the UK.
However, there appeared to be little empathy from visitors about what is happening in the local community. The audience at the Discovery Museum was largely apathetic towards a family food parcel we collected when it was first displayed.
When consulted some visitors had negative perceptions of people who were using food banks and many didn’t know about the issues on their doorstep. We set up a temporary food donation collection point, but contributions were sparse.
Our challenge was to represent issues around poverty and inequality and to attempt to provoke empathy and understanding with our audience, changing attitudes and challenging stereotypes. We had to do this in an accessible and engaging way in a family museum.
We commissioned artists to work with the food parcel and used evaluation techniques to try and measure people’s empathy. We worked closely with the manager at the Trussel Trust food bank who was involved in the decision making throughout.
Evaluation suggested that the exhibition had a big impact on visitors. People expressed shock, anger, sadness and some commented that they wanted to take action in response to what they saw.
The exhibition was funded as part of the Museums Association's Transformers programme.
Sarah Cotton is the keeper of contemporary collecting at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
Food packages and other items related to the food bank were collected as part of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' contemporary collecting programme. The aim was to reflect the important issue of food poverty in Tyneside and the UK.
However, there appeared to be little empathy from visitors about what is happening in the local community. The audience at the Discovery Museum was largely apathetic towards a family food parcel we collected when it was first displayed.
When consulted some visitors had negative perceptions of people who were using food banks and many didn’t know about the issues on their doorstep. We set up a temporary food donation collection point, but contributions were sparse.
Our challenge was to represent issues around poverty and inequality and to attempt to provoke empathy and understanding with our audience, changing attitudes and challenging stereotypes. We had to do this in an accessible and engaging way in a family museum.
We commissioned artists to work with the food parcel and used evaluation techniques to try and measure people’s empathy. We worked closely with the manager at the Trussel Trust food bank who was involved in the decision making throughout.
Evaluation suggested that the exhibition had a big impact on visitors. People expressed shock, anger, sadness and some commented that they wanted to take action in response to what they saw.
The exhibition was funded as part of the Museums Association's Transformers programme.
Sarah Cotton is the keeper of contemporary collecting at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.