Today I managed to make it to the ‘State of The Union’ exhibit at the Potter Museum of Art at Melbourne University. This exhibit is curated by Jacqueline Doughty and is a spotlight on various labour movements and activism. At one stage of the exhibit, there is a collection of different banners collated by artists that represent unionisation and protests. I would say I have minimal knowledge about unions themselves, so the visual depictions of these banners were familiar (I think this is what many of us tend to think of in regard to protest and unionisation). When I think about recent protests in Australia and abroad I notice that these banners seem to have now largely taken the form of posters. Though posters do of course take an effort to be made, the exhibit did have me thinking about how long the traditional banner would actually take to make, both for the artists and obviously the original unions and protestors.

There were also a number of films playing at the exhibit, including excerpts from ‘The Battle of Orgerave (An Injury to One is an Injury to All)’, a 2001 film directed by Mike Figgis. I caught some of this film, which portrays a key event in the 1984 – 85 U.K miner’s strike. The film is a reenactment of ‘The Battle of Orgreave’, using many of the people who were involved in the struggle. During the film, former miner Malcolm Bray who was involved in the strike expresses his dislike of the protest’s chant ‘the miners united will never be defeated’. As he sees it, the underlying issue behind the protest should not have been focused just on the mining industry, because the real issue was about the working class and their vulnerability. I am planning on watching the whole film, it can be found below.

Additionally, Figgis’ concept for this documentary is quite intriguing. The reenactment footage looks quite realistic, predominantly because of the very real anger and frustration being portrayed by those reenacting it. This is quite an inspiring commitment to telling this story – by literally acting it out, and working with those in the community who were there.

On Friday we visited the museum and Kerrie told us about the surrounding area where the LMW is located, pipemaker’s park. I am quite interested in the old pipemaking industry in Maribyrnong for a project topic.

While a simple google search tells me of some preliminary information about Hume Pipe works – it replaced the Meat Cannery and established itself in Maribrynong in 1912 – I have not yet found much about labour conditions online. However, I’m going to listen to an interview with a man who worked at Hume Pipe Works next week, as the tape is pending digitisation. Visiting the exhibit has helped me to think about my project by seeing examples of work focusing on industrial labour and unionisation, so I’m quite excited to dive into it.

References

State of the Union (2018), Ian Potter Museum of Art, 24 July to 28 October 2018

The Battle of Orgreave (2001). (2001). Directed by M. Figgis. United Kingdom.