RESEARCH IMAGES OF WORKERS IN BOOKS & ARCHIVES – PART 2 Collective portraits
I was particularly struck by the formal portraits of teams of workers – looking at their expressions, and the order of who stands where – does this order reflect the hierarchical structures each work place has? (even in the open plan offices, which are meant to hint at some sort of flat power structure, I think in many cases just mask true neo-liberal capitalist motivations…)
Some time ago I found archival photographs of shop keepers in Hackney, and I like that they have a sense of the occasion, when workers have to stop working and come out of the workplace to be photographed.
The first 2 images are from a book written by Volvo’s then president, published in the 1970s. It being 70s the assertions in the book such as ‘women are equal members of team’ etc, show self-conscious assertions how women are equal and important, at the same time as the photographs of them at work looking lots more eroticised then men’s ones… (the images in the previous post).
The last image I took is from an exhibition of archive photographs in Novi Travnik – a place which holds interest for me due to family connections, and its factory built by Tito in socialist Yugoslavia in the 1950’s making weapons for export, mostly to Iraq and Kuwait. My grandfather worked there for a few years before moving to Germany as a migrant labourer or ‘guest worker’. It’s uncanny how it all connects… This image shows workers of the factory probably celebrating a state national day, gathered together under the sign ‘Zemlja se voli, onoliko i koliko se radi!’ The land is loved, as much as how hard its people work.’ In the socialist context the connection was highlighted between loving the country and working hard while in the capitalist it was the teams working together in a good and fair place of work, promoting fairness and hapiness though being part of a wholesome working ‘culture’. Both are promotional, the Volvo book more so as the photographs were taken particularly for that purpose…
The book was kindly lent to me by Peter Cressey, sociologist at the University of Bath, and we’ve had many intersting chats about ‘industrial relations turning into human reseources’, the language of ‘managing labour’ and the links between Universities and employment…
