Work from Home

2023

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.

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.

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.

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.

Woman at a desk reviewing printed documents beside a large monitor and window
Professor. Lancaster, October 2022.
Man leaning over a sofa arm to use a laptop in a dark living room
Product designer. Salford, September 2022.
Woman at a desk with dual screens in an attic room, dog lying on the floor
Curator/researcher. Caton, July 2022.
Man in an office chair receiving a mug, surrounded by multiple monitors
Project manager. Lancaster, October 2022.

Working with a group of people in person, bouncing ideas around, supporting each other, making things happen is the best feeling in the world and why I love my work; when this is on Zoom, you can feel the screen fatigue off people and it’s just not the same.

Organisational psychologist. Manchester, March 2023.
Person wearing headphones drinking from a mug at a laptop by a window
Professor. Lancaster, July 2022.
Woman kneeling on a floor holding a toy beside a young child amid scattered toys
Childminder. Manchester, March 2023.
Person standing playing cello in a room with an upright piano and bookshelf
Cellist/composer/teacher. Lancaster, December 2022.
Man wearing headphones gesturing at dual monitors on a cluttered desk
Chief executive officer. Lancaster, January 2023.
Person in yellow top at a desk facing a large window, cat on the bed in foreground
Lecturer. Manchester, March 2023.

I actually found full time work from home both rewarding and a bit isolating. Rewarding because I felt free to manage my own time, and that nobody was looking over my shoulder if I needed to decompress for 10 minutes. Isolating in a strange sense; I was on calls with people almost all day, but somehow that doesn’t quite feed the soul like seeing people in person does.

Software consultant. Lancaster, July 2022.
Woman reaching down to a black cat on a sunlit wooden floor near a dining table
Organisational psychologist. Manchester, March 2023.
Man in a beanie moving in a cluttered room with a laptop, guitar leaning against the wall
Project manager. Lancaster, January 2023.
Man seated at a kitchen table with a laptop and tablet, garden door behind him
Business development manager. Lancaster, October 2022.
Person at a monitor in a small room lined with colourful stacked storage boxes
Accountant/lecturer. Manchester, February 2023.
Man with headset at dual monitors, framed prints propped against the wall
User interface artist. Lancaster, July 2022.
Woman in a blue hoodie looking at a phone by a kitchen window, fridge beside her
Medical writer. Wray, November 2022.

I’ve also found there is a greater diversity of people that I work with. On one project, the team is spread throughout Europe, the USA, and South America. It’s the extension of home comforts into the working life that make each day a bit better, and that’s something that would be hard to give up.

Mobile app developer. Lancaster, July 2022.
Person wearing a headset gesturing at a screen in a green-walled bedroom
Administrator. Garstang, February 2023.
Bearded man at a laptop in a glass-walled extension, large mural on the wall behind him
Business owner. Lancaster, November 2022.
Two people working at side-by-side desks with monitors, round mirror on the wall
Architects. Overton, August 2022.
Woman painting at a drawing board in a studio surrounded by artworks on the wall
Artist. Kendal, April 2023.
Woman at a dining table with a laptop beneath a cluster pendant light
Software engineer. Lancaster, July 2022.
Woman standing beside an antique writing desk in a traditionally furnished room
Tour guide. Ambleside, April 2023.

Working from home means two things. The first is comfort. Everything is set up the way I want it to be. Everything is to hand. The second is efficiency. It takes five seconds to move from breakfast to my computer. I get fewer interruptions.

Professor. Lancaster, October 2022.
Man standing at a sit-stand desk with a large monitor in a bedroom
Social entrepreneur. Lancaster, July 2023.
Person obscured behind an iMac and laptop on a height-adjustable desk, cables trailing to the floor
Software anthropologist. Halton, November 2023.
Two men on a sofa sharing a laptop in a bright apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows
Marketing executive & skills support officer. Manchester, April 2023.

Outputs