The Bear Cupboard

Usurp Art Gallery presents ‘The Bear Cupboard’, our alternative Christmas window display. As an antidote to the extravagant and opulent displays offered by large department stores, ‘The Bear Cupboard’ highlights the stark and impoverished Christmas facing many people living in Britain today under this government’s punitive austerity program.

For thousands of families, Christmas Day will not be about feasting and presents, it will be a struggle to put food on the table while being dependent on the charity of their local foodbanks. For them, The Cupboard is Bare. Please support your local food bank.

13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK. Every day people go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to low income. Foodbanks are a lifeline, providing emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis. In 2013-14, foodbanks fed 913,138 people including 330,205 children. (The Trussell Trust)