A haunting new visual project is peeling back the layers of shame and silence that surround "fuel poverty," revealing the human cost of living in a home you cannot afford to heat.

Titled "Keeping Warm," the exhibition by Citizens Advice Shropshire and Aston University is not just about high bills; it is about the erosion of dignity. Through disposable cameras handed to those living on the margins, the project captures the intimate, freezing reality of life behind closed doors—families huddled in one room, meals skipped to pay for gas, and the mental toll of the eternal cold.

Freezing in Silence

"Everyone assumes that if you're poor, it's because of bad choices," says Jackie Jeffrey of Citizens Advice. "That is just not true." The project aims to shatter this stigma by anonymizing the participants but amplifying their reality. It documents the "heat or eat" dilemma that millions globally—including in the UK—face during winter.

• The Method: By giving participants cameras, the project reclaims the narrative, allowing the victims to document their own resilience and struggle.
• The Global Context: While the setting is Shropshire, the theme resonates worldwide. In Kenya, "fuel poverty" translates to the struggle for cooking gas or charcoal, where prices fluctuate wildly, forcing families to resort to hazardous biomass fuels.
• The Goal: The exhibition at The Hive in Shrewsbury is designed to force policymakers to look past the statistics and see the shivering human beings behind the data.

More Than Just Temperature

The exhibition reveals that a cold home breeds more than just physical illness; it breeds social isolation. People stop inviting friends over. They retreat into themselves. The "Keeping Warm" project is a reminder that energy access is a fundamental human right, and its absence is a silent violence committed against the vulnerable.