We went to visit the ‘Invisible Hands’ exhibition in the Jersey Arts Center. It is a series of photographs about the potato farming industry produced from the perspective of the workers themselves; all of the photos in this exhibition have been taken by them. This exhibition has a high significance as seasonal farming work has been an important part of the Jersey economy for over 150 years, yet their presence is mostly undocumented, limited to staged photographs by local media or marketing photos.

Through this the exhibition urges farmers to provide better living and working conditions for Polish and other immigrants working in their farms. One worker says ‘We work very long hours, sometimes 12 hours and sometimes longer than 12 hours, regardless of the weather – whether there is rain or a cold wind, we are still working, and sometimes we work on Sunday, which is not great for everybody.’ They work in very poor conditions for long hours all for minimum salary

As a result of this the project includes a list of eight requests to improve working conditions for Polish migrants, as shown in the below photo. Those eight points (requests made by the workers presented in the art project and displayed in the exhibition) include reforms to the health and social security system that currently mean workers are not eligible for benefits until they have been in the Island for six months, and improvements in living conditions and wages for those undertaking the most difficult jobs.

To add an artistic element to the list; the eight points have been written by an automated arm as shown below.

Within my personal investigation I want to explore my families lifestyle and the interventions within this, with specific focus on my grandparents. I decided to capture my grandparents’ as they were raised during the 1940’s where the ideology of a traditional family existed, this will allow me to see if their lifestyle now reflects their lifestyle back in the 1940’s. A traditional family during this time was considered a structure which consists on a man and women, who are usually husband and wife, who have one or more biological or adopted children after they have been wedded. It also looks at the role of religion and spirituality within the family structure, and how it influences a families life style. In addition, within a traditional family during the 1940’s it was considered a social norm for the wife of a family to be a house wife and the husband to provide within the family, outlining gender stereotype’s within the family structure. Within this project I intended to capture imagery in the style of documentary photography, following the art movement of photo realism, in order to accuratly capture the life style of my grandparents.

For my first photoshoot; I believe it is necessary to explore my grandparents past and try and gain an understanding of their lifestyle when they were younger. In order to achieve this I intended to explore their photo archives of old photographs and documents they have stored at their house, whilst interviewing them asking about stories and meanings behind their archival material. This will give me an in-depth understanding of their lifestyle and will enrich my investigation with valuable detail about my grandparents which can influence the way in which I explore their current lifestyle.

One major aspect of their lifestyle is holiday seasons; every Christmas my grandparents will come down to my house as we celebrate Christmas, exposing me to their lifestyle. As a family we sit around the table and eat a traditional Christmas meal, dress smart and part take in activities such as watching the Queen’s speech every year. I intended to capture this to explore my grandparents lifestyle within big family events, as well as showing how their lifestyle has influenced their descendants.

My third photoshoot will capture my grandparents lifestyle in a naturalistic way through producing candid photographs. I intended to follow my grandparents around for a day capturing specific tasks that they do within the day, such as house chores, hobbies etc. This will give me an understanding of what their day to day life is like and how their upbringing has influenced this. In addition, I will also look at producing a video which captures this which work alongside this set on imagery, I intended to overlap this with audio of each grandparent explaining what their upbringing was like in terms of lifestyle.

For my final photoshoot I do not have a set idea on what I want to capture. I plan to capture a significant area of their lifestyle which I have not yet explored, in order to showcase a holistic view of their lifestyle. Ideally, I am wanting to capture more naturalistic imagery but may turn to artificial staged family photographs to showcase this. I believe after looking through my family archives I will have more of an understanding of what I am wanting to capture for this photoshoot.