Artist talks and where they take you.
I was invited to give a talk to the Norwich 20 Group (www.norwich20group.co.uk) a week or so back. Its always a good opportunity to get ideas clear and assemble images. Beyond that its the questions that cant be anticipated, the connections one cant foresee that make giving artist talks so interesting and as much part of the work for me at the work i produce.
The questions from the 20 Group were expansive and seemed to focus on the role of women within manufacturing and engineering. There was a comment about some of the images i showed where historical factory images featured female workers – which led me to talk about some of the films in the British Documentary Movement made before, during and after the war. There is a great film about women working the night shift in an armaments factory. Someone wanted to know how many female engineers there were at Hethel, to which i replied – non – this led to a conversation about why this might be – perhaps not encouraged into the discipline at school or studying it but unable to find work or progress in the profession? Its not something i have really looked at much although Derek and i have discussed it on occasion. There is such as thing as Young Women Engineer of the Year – http://conferences.theiet.org/ywe/index.htm
These gender questions were brought to the fore again when at the weekend i went to see Made in Dagenham – (which was at times rather funny as well as telling the events of an important story in the fight for equality and equal pay). The film has some interesting footage of car manufacturing and working conditions – which were less than salubrious. What ever the critics view of the film we can’t escape the fact that it represents a seminal moment in women’s history and the move towards a fair days pay for a fair days labour no matter your gender. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms/film/made_in_dagenha…
