Care and the Good Work
I have thought a lot about the fact that it is impossible to actually understand a form of labour without having experienced it directly, firsthand. It brought me to a question – how could I ever represent labour and what it feels like to go through labour in an image? If I cannot understand a labour that I have never experienced, then how could I possibly understand it through a photograph?
Throughout my work, I have been interested in the idea of witnessing or observing labour from an ‘outside’ perspective, and I have decided to explore how I can show the idea of labour through an image without really showing labour itself. This means finding indirect ways of viewing labour through the lens – ways that don’t try to examine or ‘represent’ labour, but ways that focus on the observance of the viewer. Often we don’t remember to notice all the labour that goes into keeping us happy, safe, and healthy every day, so in my work I want to seek ways of taking photographs that remind people of the labour that happens around them (such as labour which they may not have experienced, or are not really aware of). I think it would be an interesting challenge to find ways to make the viewer (and myself too) re-notice the significance of labour, through the experience of observing in a different way.
Taking Notice
I wanted to start exploring this last phase of the brief by noticing labour in the community and surrounding neighbourhoods which I frequently travel through. I thought about walking around my neighbourhood with my camera, but I was a little nervous about taking photos of people in busy public areas. So instead I went for a drive to different places and stopped to take photos from my car. It felt a bit weird, like I was a spy, but when I stopped it also gave me a moment to look around and notice all the labour around me. I noticed a lot more than I often would, and felt especially aware of the essential work that runs constantly to keep our communities going. I think that when we go places, we look at the things around us, but it can be easy to not consciously take in all that we see.
I decided to only take photos from inside my car, finding angles through the windows and mirrors which was sometimes challenging! Taking photos from the car, however, carried across the idea of being an observer from a relatable and common viewpoint. I could show labour from more of a candid perspective (rather than direct or staged) and experiment with reflections. My aim was to capture images in public, everyday settings that say to the viewer “I want you to notice something”, and to make the viewer really look at what they see.
I recorded a video too, which emphasises the labour as nearly everything is still except for the forklift. I like the way that in moments of pause, you become more aware of what you hear as well as what you can see. Videoing this made me think about noticing the sounds of labour.
Forklift video: https://youtu.be/QcYOZ9TrjfQ
These next photos were taken from the passenger seat when I went out in my Dad’s car, and I got to look around and take photos while he was driving. The tinted windows add a filter to the photos, as well as some reflections, creating a sense of observing from a kind of separation between the viewer and the labour. Taking photos of road construction made me realise that we often drive past it so quickly that the labour that goes into it doesn’t receive much attention. Being able to capture some moments clearly, perhaps, can allow the viewer to recognise this labour which is so important and even enables us to drive.
Taking these photos from the car was a very interesting experience! My favourites were the supermarket ones as I like the way they show a subtle way of noticing. As I continue, I’m keen to explore video more as I think it’s interesting to work with the idea of noticing sound in labour as well as sight. I am also thinking about different perspectives I could explore and how I could try sequencing photos.