Unseen Stories
A security guard, a teacher, a health care worker, a janitor, refugees and others tell their stories through "Unseenamerica New York State: Pictures of Working Lives Taken by Working Hands," a traveling photo exhibit opening at ILR on April 14.
Sixty images of daily life taken by workers from across the state will be displayed on the second-floor lobbies of Ives Hall and the ILR Conference Center through July 18.
The "Unseenamerica New York State" opening reception, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. April 14 in the conference center’s second-floor lobby, is open to the public. The exhibit opening is the first in a series of ILR Union Days events that week.
Speakers at the April 14 opening reception will be Harry Katz, Kenneth F. Kahn Dean and Jack Sheinkman Professor; Jeff Cowie, associate professor of labor history and Union Days 2009 chair; Esther Cohen, "Unseenamerica" founder; Ed Murphy of the Workforce Development Institute, and João Henrique Jabur Bittar, "Unseenamerica New York State" photographer.
Ed Murphy, executive director of the Workforce Development Institute, which directed the New York state project, said "…thousands of people have seen the visions, hopes, struggles and daily lives of working people. We continue sharing their stories in the hope that it will bring us closer to a more just society."
The Workforce Development Institute, a statewide organization based in Albany, aims to improve the lives of working families across New York State by providing workforce intelligence and programs in economic development, education and training, cultural enrichment, family support, and disabled and dislocated workers services.
The institute underwrote "Unseenamerica New York State" with support from the New York State Senate, in collaboration with the NYS AFL-CIO and Bread & Roses Cultural Project 1199 SEIU.
"Unseenamerica" is a national program in visual democracy, created in 2000 by Esther Cohen, executive director of the Bread & Roses Cultural Project.
Bread and Roses was founded in 1979 as the cultural arm of 1199 SEIU. Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing health care, government, janitorial and other workers. It merged in 1998 with 1199, a local of The National Health Care Workers' Union.
More than 1,500 students have taken workshops and exhibited their photos in a wide range of venues around the country.
The goal of "Unseenamerica New York State" is to raise awareness and gain visibility for workers' issues, from the perspective of the workers themselves, organizers said.
The black-and-white images, on three-by-five foot cloth banners, are accompanied by brief explanations from the photographers, who attended 10-week workshops taught by professional photographers and writers.
In 24 locations throughout the state – from Long Island to Buffalo -- participants took pictures of loved ones, co-workers, work sites, food, events, objects, friends and other subjects.
Robert Morales took a picture entitled "Dad at Work." The caption reads "My father worked in the linoleum business in the South Bronx for over 25 years. People prefer hardwood floors today."
Mary Lou Dwyer took a picture called "To Clean" and wrote "Even though so many people see Linda every day, no one understands how much work she does."
For "Skeletons," a picture of shuttered Buffalo factories, Erik Pirchowicz writes, "Buffalo was once a young strapping lad, a big brother, instrumental in the development of this nation."
The exhibit will be open to the public at ILR from 10 a.m. to 5 pm. weekdays.
The exhibit has been shown at the New York State Museum in Albany, at Gallery 1199 in Manhattan and at the New York State Department of Labor in Albany.