365 Days of Invisible Work

Coinciding with the recent publication of 365 Days of Invisible Work, co-published by Werker, Casco and Spector Books, and One Day Without Us, a day celebrating the work of Migrant workers by calling a strike for one day. Tenderbooks is hosting a display of materials by the Werker Collective in collaboration with the Voice of Domestic Workers and the Jo Spence Archive to make visible and restore the dignity of domestic, reproductive, and care work.

365 Days of Invisible Work is a compendium of political representations of domestic work collected by the Domestic Worker Photographer Network, an online community of amateur photographers made up of migrant workers, gardeners, dishwashers, artists, teachers, and many more. Organized as a calendar, 365 Days of Invisible Work is dedicated to making visible the myriad labours negated by oppressive capitalist structures by highlighting the daily work of cleaners, mothers, interns, care-givers, and many other.

The network drew name and inspiration from the international worker photography movement of the 1920s and 1930s, the first amateur photographers using cameras to represent the lives and conditions of workers. In that spirit, 365 Days of Invisible Work collectively re-thinks today’s living and labour conditions, starting from the routines of domestic maintenance and care.