In collaboration with Shutter Hub and Camera Amnesty Projects, Toiletries Amnesty is commissioning a photographer to create new work representing the hygiene poverty crisis in the UK.

Founded in 2014, Toiletries Amnesty is a social, ethical and environmental NGO working across the UK and abroad to relieve hygiene poverty and divert unwanted toiletries from landfill.

The need for food banks and the impact of fuel poverty are both subjects that have hit the headlines in recent times, linked to both of these urgent matters is hygiene poverty, a crisis that has also been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021 Toiletries Amnesty provided access to toiletries and hygiene essentials to over 2.25million people in the UK and beyond, whilst diverting thousands of tonnes of toiletries waste from landfill.

Toiletries Amnesty work with homeless shelters and hostels, women and children’s refuges, mental health services, children and families centres, food banks, refugee support groups, NHS Trust services, schools and colleges, prison services, community groups, and other organisations. They currently support over 500 organisations and charities, the majority of which are in the UK.

This is an opportunity for us to work together to make a real impact and use the power of photography and visual communication to educate people on the issues of hygiene poverty, the social and environmental impact Toiletries Amnesty is making, and enable the viewers to be able to help too.

Toiletries Amnesty are open to multiple approaches to this commission, they want to put their trust in a photographer who has the skills and ability to create a meaningful response and use their visual skills to open up conversations and engage new audiences.

The commissioned photographer may choose to show the work that Toiletries Amnesty does or how it impacts individuals or millions of people. The work could be a case study of one person or of a whole community or organisation. The story could be conceptual or abstract, created in the studio with or without people. There could be a link to the knock-on effects, such as food and energy poverty, self-esteem, body positivity, bullying etc. There’s also the huge environmental impact to consider – businesses and individuals sharing unwanted products has removed thousands of tonnes from landfill whilst helping people access the things they need.

Toiletries Amnesty are looking for dynamic and different approaches to telling these stories and making more of an impact, and they are looking forward to working with you.

Work produced from this commission will not only be used on the Toiletries Amnesty website and promotional material, and of course promoted on shutterhub.org.uk but will be promoted to press and PR contacts with the hopes of reaching the widest audiences as possible. The photographer will of course retain their copyright and will always be tagged and/or credited wherever possible.

There is a fee of £500 available to the selected photographer. This opportunity is open to all Shutter Hub members.