Change Lab Exhibition
Lunchbox Cities
A lunchbox can reveal more than what's inside. It can expose systems of inequality, culture, care, and neglect. In our work, the school lunch becomes a lens through which we examine who is nourished, who is left out, and what possibilities exist for change.
What if all schools were equipped with gardens catering to students' fresh lunches? What if students could choose and grow the food they eat, learning nutrition through doing, and seeing how fresh, healthy meals affect their energy, mood, and wellbeing? We ask these questions to reframe lunch as more than a break in the day. It's a daily experience shaped by access, policy, community and voice.
In Ireland today, 81% of families experiencing food poverty, say they prioritise cost over nutrition. Hot, nutritious meals are not a guarantee. They depend on postcode, funding, and infrastructure. This work draws on Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and Goal 3 (good health and well-being), to highlight how urban school food systems can reflect and resist wider patterns of inequality.
As artists, designers, and educators, we believe food is pedagogical. It feeds bodies, but also ideas, and has the potential to grow empathy, autonomy, and meaningful, systemic change.
educate / equality / experience
By Heather Barker, Hannah Clegg, Raymond Curtin, Jack Allen