My mother wanted a better life
for me than the one she was living. A widow with a daughter to raise properly
and in a healthy environment with many opportunities. She decided that the only
way to do so was to quit her job as a secretary in Silute, Lithuania and travel
to the UK. The main aim was to work until she had saved up enough income to
bring me over to her and start a new life together. I was then left in the care
of my grandmother from my mother’s side along with my cousin who was also under
my grandmother’s care. I was eight years
old when my mother left to go to the UK and it was a wave of emotions that over
took us both up until we were reunited on my arrival three years later. I then
started a new chapter of my life and went to school in Peterborough, UK. Ever
since as far as I could remember individuals and society fascinated me, I
always enjoyed capturing moments and sceneries with any camera I could get my
hands on. After starting college and getting one step closer to my dreams of
becoming a photographer, I had to work in order to help gather savings for
myself and prepare me for university. I started a full-time job at a factory in
Leicester, UK when I was 19 years of age and worked up to 15 hours a day. This
was nothing similar to what my mother had to endure because the factories have
significantly changed since she was working. There were new statutes and
legislations that were put in place to give employees of factories safer and
happier environment. This however did not make them perfect; I still had to go
through nights of barely sleeping and work with little to no breaks.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Introduction
In total there are about 8634 factories in the UK.
There was always a big demand for workers who were willing to work long hours
and sometimes under difficult circumstances. Some factories would employ up to
60,000 people if we look back in time. However, how much of a coincidence would
it be if immigrants from the same city in the same country were to meet in one
of those factories? That is what I am trying to portray in my images of the 12
individuals who are now legally residing in the UK. These 8 women and 3 men
were working in a factory located in Peterborough, UK. Without any previous
planning or close relations they all ended up in the same factory sometimes
working up to 16 hours a day. This factory, “Action Pack”, employed
approximately 40 individuals with a ratio of about 3:1, men being the majority.
These individuals did not previously communicate even though they were all from
a city called Silute located in Lithuania. All of them met each other between
the dates 2000 - 2003. They are now close friends and stay in contact this
shows how a coincidence can be very meaningful. Their story is a heart-breaking
one, it is a bond between very similar people, who were illegal at the time they
met and were employed in this particular factory. However, all worked for the
purposes of providing for their families, struggled through hardships and being
shockingly underpaid to work in order to survive.
Incidents that
occurred whilst working in the Factory:
An employee got let go because she wanted to finish her
work faster in order to get paid more to provide for her family, Quote: “I got
fired because the manager told us to go on a break, I only had 4 magazines left
to pack up to finish off a full palette and asked for an extra 2 minutes to
finish it.”
Due to long hours of working an employee dislocated
her toe and had to endure surgery. It was a result of heavy lifting.
They also received sanctions similar to children. They
were told to not disobey any orders; in the case that they do disobey they will
be placed on unpaid suspensions for up to two weeks. This caused many problems
with bills being paid let or sometimes not having enough money to pay at all.
They even endured negligence resulting in one employee
taking legal action and receiving compensation. Approximately between £1000 -
£2000 was received for the damages that were caused whilst working in the
factory.
Women suffered the most in the long term. They
sustaining a number of mental and physical problems, such as; numb and swollen
feet, legs and hands as well as extreme back pain and verbal abuse.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Lewis Hine
Lewis Hine
was and is one of the first seriously taken Documentary photographers
that explored the factory workers. By doing that he was hoping to show
the world the reality with in the factory workers mainly children which
brings us to child labor.
No one knows the outcome of their life.
This
is why I am looking in to the EX factory workers and see their point of
view about factories; their treatment there whilst they been working in the WAREHOUSE or FACTORY.
portraits as such are natural, exposing the person as they are.
the image contrast is quite soft and gentle.
The image is sharp and well composed. The elderly Lady is not posing or showing the awareness of the camera in front.
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