I have been doing lots of research recently, investigating my major project on 'Workers' for my OCA Creative Arts degree. One of the most outstanding documentaries that I have found on this subject (both the film and the book) is Michael Glawogger's 'Workingman's Death'. It will undoubtedly have a huge influence on my work over the coming months.
The premise of the film are the questions: 'Is heavy manual labor disappearing or is it just becoming invisible?' and 'Where can we still find it in the 21st century?'. The story is divided into 6 chapters, exploring this concept around the globe: 'Heroes' (Coal Mines in the Ukraine); 'Ghosts' (Sulfur Mining in Indonesia); 'Lions' (Slaughter Yard in Nigeria); 'Brothers' (Shipbreaking in Pakistan); 'Future' (Steel Complex in China); and an 'Epilogue' exploring a Leisure Park in Germany. Each chapter is visually stunning, captured with tremendous camerawork.
Of especial interest to me is the development of the book alongside the film. In each country, an independant photographer who had nothing to do with the film, was invited to put together his own photo-essay and tell his own story. The result is a fascinating exploration of workers who put their lives into the strains of manual labour everyday, and a story of how the photographers managed to capture (or not in some cases) the essence of their struggles. Each photographer was given their own freedom of expression, so that each chapter is presented in the photographer's own style, with its own treatment of the material, allowing the reader to explore how potentially similar subjects can be presented in different ways, whilst remaining poignant and (very often) beautiful in their presentation. I intend to explore the works of these 6 photographers further, which will hopefully give me even greater enthusiasm for this subject. Two of the photographers in particular, G.M.B. Akash (who did the Pakistan chapter) and Zhou Hai (who did the China chapter) have their own websites, which are a rich source of amazing images.
