To mark World Food Day on Friday 16th October and launch its HungerFREE campaign in the UK, international development charity ActionAid has enlisted the talents of photographer Gavin Evans.

The charity has commissioned the Edinburgh-based, contemporary arts photographer to create a one-off, iconic image, capturing the horrific truth of a world in which one billion people are going hungry.

The final image is of a woman holding a bowl, apparently filled with food. On closer inspection, the bowl actually contains hundreds of handcuffs, reflecting the fact that hunger is imprisoning the world’s poor.

Gavin said: “The campaign required an arresting image that conveyed the enormity of the challenge faced.  The photograph needed to create impact that on closer inspection revealed another layer of meaning to provoke discussion, and consequently action.  The mass of handcuffs represent not only the billions but also each individual, they bind the individual to the issue."

ActionAid’s HungerFREE campaign is calling for the UK government to make ending hunger a global priority and heed the plight of the one billion who are going hungry every day. The charity argues that only through investment in small-scale, sustainable agriculture, will farmers in the developing world be able to grow enough food for themselves and their communities, bringing an end to world hunger.

On World Food Day, ActionAid will also release a comprehensive startling report– entitled Who’s Really Fighting Hunger? - which shows exactly where the UK comes in a ranking of 51 rich and poor countries on their efforts to prevent hunger and tackle the food crisis.

Visit HungerFREE

A portrait photographer with a difference, Gavin Evans has spent two decades capturing subjects as iconic and diverse as DAVID BOWIE, BJORK, TERRY GILLIAM, IAN McKELLAN, DANIEL CRAIG, NICK CAVE and many more.