Paper short abstract:

During the lockdown in Britain, I spent 2 days a week for 6 months photographing and volunteering at Made Up Kitchen, a volunteer kitchen set up in the community centre on my housing estate. Its ethos was to provide nutritious and plentiful hot and cold food for people on our estate.

Paper long abstract:

The act of volunteering and photographing allowed me to immerse myself both physically and mentally in the kitchen enabling me to gain a much greater understanding of how this small, nondescript building tucked away behind a small row of shops had become the centre of a web of connections.

Prior to the Coronavirus Pandemic I had already begun researching the relationship between community centres and modern-day communities but realised, as we went into lockdown that I needed to react to what was occurring now within the area I lived.

Made Up Kitchen took over the building, which was more used to holding community meetings, gardening sessions and workshops on money management, turning it into a food preparation and distribution hub. This small building, tucked behind a row of estate shops, quickly became the beating heart of this corner of East London.

As their network started to grow through established connections and new links via social media and word of mouth, organisations such as Edible London, GMG Gurdwara and the Felix Project began delivering food to Made Up Kitchen while other organisations such as Concorde Youth, Co.operate19, and Bike Works plus numerous other individuals, coordinated themselves into cooking and delivering the food to local people.

It was this network that I began to follow and document.