Exhibitions:
The Dukes, Lancaster, 30 April–14 June 2024
The Carlton Club, Manchester, 26 October–14 November 2023
Selected work shortlisted for Royal Photographic Society IPE 166
The “message” of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.
— Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964.
Professor. Lancaster, October 2022.
Product designer. Salford, September 2022.
Curator/researcher. Caton, July 2022.
Project manager. Lancaster, October 2022.
Professor. Lancaster, July 2022.
Childminder. Manchester, March 2023.
For at least two centuries, a dedicated workplace away from home has been the norm. This has shaped much of what we recognise as present-day life. Nonetheless, since the late 1970s, there has been an increase in home working arrangements enabled by communication and computing technology. Most recently, the trend was accelerated by the global pandemic of 2020 and its subsequent lockdowns.
This change is significant. Initially referred to as ‘telecommuting,’ today we know it as ‘remote work’ or ‘work from home.’ For many people, their home is now the site where personal and professional spheres intersect. This is shown by spaces that are individually distinct, but often predictably arranged to facilitate electronic screens and cables.
Cellist/composer/teacher. Lancaster, December 2022.
Chief executive officer. Lancaster, January 2023.
Lecturer. Manchester, March 2023.
Organisational psychologist. Manchester, March 2023.
Project manager. Lancaster, January 2023.
Business development manager. Lancaster, October 2022.
To the observer, the screen-based nature of most work makes it hard to tell professions apart. For example, not long ago, an architect's studio was instantly recognisable by the presence of a drafting table. Today, architects sit at desks interacting with data on screens just like computer programmers and project managers do.
The photographs in this series reveal resilience. They highlight people’s capacity to adapt to changing circumstances imposed on them and to embrace opportunities to have their work suit their lives, rather than the other way round. Many participants reported that they find this liberating.
But the photographs also reveal vulnerability and hint at the precariousness of work. The casual quality of the work environments seems to say that a job, and the financial security it implies, is fleeting. There are no guarantees. A few participants also noted that, despite widespread use of messaging apps, the social isolation of working alone can be challenging. The encroachment of work on home life is at times difficult to manage.
Accountant/lecturer. Manchester, February 2023.
User interface artist. Lancaster, July 2022.
Medical writer. Wray, November 2022.
Administrator. Garstang, February 2023.
Business owner. Lancaster, November 2022.
Architects. Overton, August 2022.
Remote working is a bellwether for changing socioeconomic circumstances. It has wider implications for the environment, social patterns, cultural practices, the economy, and government. For example, given that employment is no longer bound by geographical proximity, what are the implications for employees, employers, communities, and the economic and political systems in which they function?
We cannot yet answer such questions because we do not fully understand the impact of the new ways in which we work. What we do know, and what this project stresses, is that there is sustained change and that it will have far-reaching consequences.
For Work from Home, I observed and photographed 80 homeworkers in the North West over a period of 18 months.
Artist. Kendal, April 2023.
Software engineer. Lancaster, July 2022.
Tour guide. Ambleside, April 2023.
Social entrepreneur. Lancaster, July 2023.
Software anthropologist. Halton, November 2023.
Marketing executive & skills support officer. Manchester, April 2023.