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Munchies

This Photographer Documents the People Who Visit London's Food Banks

"Some of them wanted to talk about the injustice that had been happening to them. They're all aware that it happens a lot. They feel like it's not right."

For many in the UK, the smallest change in circumstance—perhaps being unable to work due to sickness or an unexpected bill—can mean the difference between affording food and going hungry. According to a report released this April from food bank charity the Trussell Trust, the number of donations given out by volunteer-run organisations is on the rise. Last year, 1,182,954 three-day emergency food supplies were received across the UK—an increase of 70,000 from the year before.

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The Trussell Trust found that most food bank users are forced into doing so due to low income or delays and changes to their benefit allowances. Other research has shown that food bank usage is linked to increased housing costs, lack of free school lunches during the holidays, and harsher benefit sanctioning. And with Brexit now threatening to hike the cost of a weekly food shop and the Tories pledging to scrap free school lunches (while undercosting a plan to replace the scheme with free breakfasts), the number of people relying on food banks only looks set to rise.

But what about the individuals behind these facts and figures? London-based photographer Kristian Buus wants to give food bank users a way to tell their stories. His new photo project, Voices from the Vault, is a series of portraits and video interviews with people who have received emergency food packages in Hackney, a rapidly gentrifying area of East London that still has some of the highest poverty rates in the city.

Setting up makeshift studio and interview space next to two of the borough's food banks, Buus spoke to anyone willing to talk about their situation. Among the portraits he captured are a man who had £2 left to feed himself and a mother attempting to live on £70 a week after leaving an abusive marriage.

Miss D had to stop working in 2014 on medical grounds. All photos and captions by Kristian Buus.

We caught up with Buus to find out more about the people he met and what Voices from the Vault can tell us about poverty in modern Britain.

MUNCHIES: Hi Kristian. Why did you want to focus on food banks and why Hackney? Kristian Buus: I've lived in Hackney for 20 years. I've seen Hackney change a lot over that time. It's a lot more affluent than it used to be which is a good thing but I was always aware that that doesn't count for everyone. There's a big part of Hackney's population for whom things haven't changed.

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