‘Food and Farming – An Urban Perspective’ Photographic Exhibition
From March to April 2010 the Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket is playing host to the ARC-Addington Fund photographic exhibition ‘Food and Farming An Urban Perspective’. The exhibition showcases a range of photographs taken in rural locations around Britain by Kevin Foord, a London based fashion photographer, and accompanied by captions from author, Richard Benson.
The photographs – which include animals, working machinery and scenery – were created as part of a project to record images of contemporary British Agriculture, but evolved into something more idiosyncratic. When the pictures were taken between 2005 and 2007, Kevin and Richard had no intention of showing the photographs but a conversation led them to wonder if a selection of the images, with explanatory text, could help the ARC-Addington Fund in its attempts to foster understanding between farming and urban communities.
The ARC-Addington fund was founded in 2001 as the Churches’ response to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease and is partly named after Canon Richard Addington who inspired the original Addington Fund in East Anglia. His principles of providing financial support combined with pastoral care live on to this day.
The fund is one of the Farming Help charities and helps to maintain the economic and social foundations of the farming community. It can help farmers in one of three main ways: the Strategic Rural Housing Scheme which provides housing for farmers who have to leave their farm and cannot find anywhere suitable to live, the Trustees’ Discretionary Fund which can provide a cash grant towards unforeseen expenditure, and finally the Trevorva Barns project in Cornwall which provides affordable housing specifically for those who work in, or are retiring from, land-based employment.
Lisa Harris, Collections Manager at the Museum says: ‘As a result of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 a total of £10.3 million was distributed by the ARC-Addington Fund through over 22,000 applications. This is an incredible example of what can be achieved by the generosity of the public and churches in times of crisis within our farming communities.
We hope that visitors to the exhibition will be challenged to think about where their food comes from and why farming is important in the 21st century, as well as learning more about the work of the ARC-Addington Fund.’
The exhibition ‘Food and Farming An Urban Perspective’ can be viewed at the Museum of East Anglian Life from now until the 12th April 2010.
