2ND JULY 2020
55.88 x 55.88 cm each, Series of 11
Collage, archival pigment print on golden paper, Wooden Frame
Manifesto of Fragility, Biennale de Lyon, 2020
On
2n July 2022, in the midst of a covid-induced lockdown, the Government of
Bangladesh issued a notice to close down 25 state-owned jute mills. 70.000
workers were laid off overnight through the "golden handshake"
scheme.
This series of 11 photographic works echoes the pain and precarity of these workers. Juxtaposing gestures of hands with frayed documents, it develops a poetic narrative entangled between labour, resistance and the economy.
This series of 11 photographic works echoes the pain and precarity of these workers. Juxtaposing gestures of hands with frayed documents, it develops a poetic narrative entangled between labour, resistance and the economy.
Once paired,
the prints lay bare the contrast between human anguish and the calm reasonings
of numbers. Between a once-thriving jute economy and today's foreclosed mills.
Between the meaning of labour and the lack thereof.
Following his film Machine Matter (2017) and his earlier documentary work on the movement of jute mills workers (2007-2009), Munem Wasif went back for this work to the same factories he had initally visited and engaged in conversations with their workers.
Following his film Machine Matter (2017) and his earlier documentary work on the movement of jute mills workers (2007-2009), Munem Wasif went back for this work to the same factories he had initally visited and engaged in conversations with their workers.
With support - Pranabesh Dash, Shahidul Islam