Hello, my name is Cindy Sissokho. I am the curator of the ‘Hard Graft’ exhibition.
In a series of clips, this film shows many different hands at work.
This silent film was shot by artist Adelita Husni-Bey. She filmed it in Jakarta, Indonesia in the Kampungs.
Kampungs are independent community settlements where lower-income families and migrants live and work.
The artist used Super 8 film, the grainy texture showing the intimacy of these spaces.
I chose this film as the starting point of the ‘Hard Graft’ exhibition because it brings together many of the ideas threaded throughout the show.
While curating this exhibition, I kept thinking about the questions: Who does what work, where, and how?
What is the effect of work on the bodies and minds of workers?
What work do we value more than others, and why?
‘Hard Graft’ draws connections between historical and contemporary accounts of underrepresented forms of labour.
This labour is often essential for society to function, but remains unpaid or low paid, and unacknowledged.
The people who do this work are often marginalised and exposed to unhealthy and unsafe working conditions.
During the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, we were ordered to isolate and stay at home.
But for some people, they had to go out and do face-to-face work.
This brought the idea of what constitutes “essential work” into sharp focus.
Health inequalities were revealed between people in lower-paid, public-facing jobs and those who were able to isolate.
This exhibition looks back at the past to the present, recognising workers who systemically remain on the margins.
Workers have also created lasting histories of resistance, collective action, and non-Western spiritual and medicinal healing.
The exhibition has three sections:
‘The Plantation’ highlights the exploitative conditions of work within the plantation economy and how we can trace its legacy in society today, from agricultural work to prison labour.
‘The Street’ focuses on the city streets as a workplace that can be precarious and unsafe.
Workers such as sex workers and sanitation workers are exposed to environmental risks from city developments, infectious diseases and heavy surveillance.
You might think that ‘The Home’ isn’t a workplace.
But it is, hiding multiple forms of exploitative and unrecognised work.
The exhibition includes around 160 different items, including historical documents and books, photographs, paintings, video projections and installations.
Some of these installations involve out-loud sound and flashing lights and effects.
Many of the historical documents and artworks are particularly sensitive to light damage.
To help preserve them, the light levels are lower in some areas of the exhibition.
You may need to allow a moment for your eyes to adjust as you move through the gallery space.
The exhibition includes references to enslavement, abuse and suicide.
It also features material related to sex work.
There is seating available throughout the exhibition.
If you need further assistance, please speak to a member of staff.