It has been over a month since I was able to work on the project with any real attention. A work trip, followed by a residency followed by a family bereavement have got in the way. But two weeks ago I went to the Saltaire Archive – housed in the library of the local college – and look at images of the mill and the work that went on there. The archivist was very busy, but sat me down with books and books of photographs to go through. The best set were from the 30s, a bit too early for my participants. But I pulled out quite a few that I think will be helpful in the project.
At that stage, I was still unsure whether my participants would be able to manage to use the iPad, so I wanted to have images, partly to help jog memories, but also as a fall-back if I was unable to get usable drawings.
So this week I’ve finally done my first two interviews, with Joyce, who worked as a burler and mender in the mill from 1944-1951, and Frank who started learning textile design, but moved into costing and worked at Salts from the mid 1930s for his whole working life, retiring in the 70s.
It is hard to say whether the technology is a barrier for them, because I didn’t see how they got on drawing on paper. Frank found it hard to get used to, and struggled to make a consistent line. and neither of them are used to drawing. I found their images really beautiful, and the stories are fascinating. But since the films will have to stand up alone – the sound will be accessed through headphones – is the image enough to attract people to stop and put on the headphones? It is hard to say at this stage.
My aim is to use this drawing technique to help my interviewees access new memories, but I’m not sure I have achieved that so far. I need to think more about my prompting. in these interviews I asked about locations, because I thought that would be the easiest thing to help them get started with the drawing. But I’m not sure it stimulates them in the right way. Maybe I need them to start by making a drawing on paper and then reproducing it on the iPad. Hmm, need to think.
