Working Within a Defined Context
Stephen Willats, 1978

This work resulted from a project sponsored by the Port of London Authority which took place at the West India Docks in 1978. Willats became artist in residence there, sharing the working day of the London dockers who were then facing redundancy. Photographs of cargo handling are interspersed with photographs of lockers, filing cabinets and foodstuffs. The words inscribed on the panels are a mixture of company regulations and the dockers' own coded phrases. The whole conveys a powerful sense of a workplace with its own strong rhythms and routines.
More information
Title of artwork, date
Working Within a Defined Context, 1978
Date supported
2006
Medium and material
Perspex framed panels containing photographic prints, photographic dyes, Letraset, gouache & ink on card
Dimensions
Each: 152 x 76 cm
Grant
5000
Total cost
17100

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