30 years of service
This is Gavin, photographed 30 years ago when he first became a binman in Halifax.
Gavin - Third from the left
And this is him 28 years later, in 2014, when I photographed him on a snowy day over the Christmas holidays.
Gavin - Second from the left
Check out his full photo essay here.
Something About Work - An Audiovisual Exploration Of Working Life
I've been out on the road sharing stories from workers and also a bit of background behind the project. This talk was filmed at All About People, an event that took place in Bournemouth in June 2016.
If you'd like to see me do this talk at your company or event head here.
Take Part In Beyond Work
I'm currently looking for all sorts of people to document. If you know of someone that does the following please get in touch.
Tube driver, Taxi driver, State school teacher, Someone that works in utilities (Gas, Electricity, Nuclear, Water), Supermarket worker, Removals, Train engineer, Stuntman, Farm worker, Shepherd, Private school teacher, Chimney sweep, Delivery driver, Newspaper boy/girl, Waiter, Theatre technician, Plastics factory worker, Alarm engineer, Roadie, Public speaker, VR designer, Researcher, Photographer, Samaritan volunteer, Radio producer, Radio presenter, Musician, Greeting card maker.
I'm also looking for people to document about work in Whitehawk in Brighton. That could be someone in work, looking for work or doing unpaid work.
I pick workers based on a few different criteria. I'm interested in people that haven't taken traditional pathways into what they do. I'm more interested in the person behind the job, why they do it and how they ended up there, rather than the company, the job title and how it's done. If you are a company interested in documenting working life, I have a business that focuses on that.
I'd expect to spend around 1 hour interviewing you, asking you to talk about your current work and how you arrived at this place in time. I'd then need to spend time at your place of work and some time at your home photographing you and your surroundings. This is a loose plan, and will be slightly different for each person.
If you are worried about your company allowing access for me to photograph you, I will help you with this. I place a great emphasis on respecting each participant, and you will be involved in the final sign off process before any images or interview are shared publicly.
The photographs will be used on this website, instagram and in zines featuring each person. They will form part of a longer term project and may be used in prints, books or exhibitions in the future. If you take part, you will receive a copy of the zine and a print of one of the photographs I've taken during our time together.
If you'd like to find out about taking part, please email me.
"I also have a small sewing business"
"My name's Stephanie Fletcher. I look after Erin (my 3 year old daughter) most days apart from one day when she's at nursery from eight till six. That involves a lot of cleaning, tidying, feeding and running around, entertaining her. On the day when she's at nursery I try and do everything else that doesn't fit into toddler time, so dentist appointments and stuff like that, which is just harder with her.⠀
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I also have a small sewing business. I only take on what work I think I'll be able to achieve because if there's ever any issue, somebody is ill or anything, I can't get it done because I only have the one day. I can't work in the evenings because my sewing machine is noisy and it's right next to Erin’s room. I'm very limited so I'll only take on a small amount."
Beyond Work Radio Interviews - Workers needed
I'm looking for people to take part in my new Beyond Work radio interview series. Do you fancy meeting me for coffee (I'm buying), and in the time it takes us to drink it, chatting around a question of your choosing about work life?
You do not need to be an expert in anything. I'm looking for people with all sorts of jobs, from all sorts of backgrounds.
The whole process would take no longer than 45 minutes.
Please email me if you'd like to take part.
Beyond Work Radio
I've been thinking of other ways to share stories about working life, and have been teetering on the edge of some kind of radio show for a while. I'm going to use some of the questions I mention in the Something about work talk as starting points for a discussion between myself and a guest. It's an experiment for a few reasons. I want to keep the production time down, so it has to be simple, with very little editing. I want to enjoy doing it, I want to learn from it and I want it to expand audiences knowledge of what it's like to be a worker, but from some slightly different angles.
Expect the first episode in the next few weeks.
If you are interested in being a guest, let me know.
The busiest posting day of the year
Today is National Postal Workers day, held on the busiest day of the year for posties. The image above is from the collection desk in Brighton, a place most people will probably have negative memories of. If you are visiting a collection desk, please spare a thought or two for the people working behind the counter. If you'd like a peek into a postmans life, I shadowed one for the day and interviewed him about his work and life. Read the story here.
They wanted to use art to alter the status of these lacemakers
Excellent piece from The Book Of Life on how we value work and the people that do it.
We’ve caught the lacemaker in what looks like a quiet mid-afternoon. She’s concentrating on her difficult task, carefully threading her needle. It will take her around five hours to make just one square centimetre. Her eyes will tire. She will make something dazzling and moving, an externalisation of the best sides of her nature. And her reward for her exquisite craftsmanship will be a few pennies at best.
Interestingly, many artists were drawn to paint lacemakers at their task. These artists had no hopes of reforming how lacemakers got paid, but they had an ambition to change the lives of lacemakers nevertheless. They wanted to use art to alter the status of these lacemakers. By directing viewers to the intelligence and dignity of the craft of lacemaking, they hoped to redeem the social standing of this economically slighted class.
The artists painted lacemakers with all the same tenderness and appreciation as one might accord to a wealthy patron. Through art, we were to stop seeing lacemakers as people who deserved to be ignored and whose low income was any kind of reflection of a lack of merit. Instead we would see them as people full of talent and humanity who – as it happened – were just doing a low wage paid job by the accidents of the economic laws of supply and demand.
What the artists were doing with lacemakers reflects a general capacity of art: to redraw what we think of as prestigious and to return proper appreciation for what certain people, especially those deemed marginal by the dominant social hierarchy, are and do. Art offers us a sensitive re-appraisal of a person’s true merit – and a complete willingness to disregard wages as a guide to human value.
Using art to alter the status of workers is exactly what I'm trying to do with Beyond Work.
I wanted to change that with my camera
Really annoyed to have missed the Marilyn Stafford Miniclick talk last night. Sounds like it was an inspiring talk, I particularly liked this line-
“When I was young I looked around and didn’t like what was happening in the world.. I wanted to change that with my camera...”
— Marilyn Stafford
It's how I feel about this project, but, I know it's a long way off achieving anything as grand as fixing the things I don't like seeing happening in the world. Everybody's got to start somewhere though.
A certain kind of truth
Bill Jay
I love those phrases, “a certain kind of truth,” “a particular kind of objectivity.” They imply that there is a not-knowing which is valuable.
One of my teachers was the philosopher-poet-artist Michel Butor who once told me that truth was like a photograph in which thousands of different shades from black to white, and including both extremes, were necessary for full revelation. But, of course, most people in this day and age insist the truth is black, or white, and deny the beauty of the whole.