Around 6 August 1944, civilians formed a line for food rations in southern Florence, Italy. A wartime photograph held by the National Library of New Zealand identifies the place, approximate date and photographer, George Kaye, and explicitly describes the civilians as lining up for food rations.
The queue formed as Allied forces advanced into Florence and the front reached the city. Rather than offering only an abstract account of rationing, the photograph records people physically ordering themselves to receive food. Their ordinary act of waiting was inseparable from the movement of war and the insecurity of supply.