INTERVIEW
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WORKING CLASS? LAURA DOYLE TALKS TO THREE ARTISTS WHOSE EXHIBITION AT THE ONLINE PINK-COLLAR GALLERY INVESTIGATES TOPICS OF CREATIVITY AND CLASS Ask any creative how their year has been and you’re highly likely to get an answer along the lines of, “Absolutely horrendous, thanks. You?” Their entire industry is on its backside, after all. Disproportionately affected by this sorry state of affairs is the working class; even outside of the struggling artist narrative, those living pay-check to pay-check experience economic instability at the best of times. If it’s tough right now for cultural industries, it’s even tougher for those from a working class background within them. Pink-Collar Gallery is tackling this issue head on; this online space works to represent the under-represented. They’ve recognised the importance of working class voices in the arts, and the danger of their extinction within the field without intervention. Their latest project, entitled What Does It Mean To Be Working Class?, seeks to answer the question with the contributions and testimonies from five working class artists. It’s an ambitious project, given the fluid definitions of ‘working class’. Is it just someone with a low income, ‘low skilled’ job? Or is there more to being working class than just your profession?
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3D artist Erin Dickson argues the way we understand the term is outdated, yet maintained as a kind of social control. “Instead of working at the dockyards and donning flat caps, we are getting degrees and working for tech giants,” she explains. “The Working Class can now be defined as just another ‘other’, a way of judging without merit or pigeonholing a vast swathe of society.” Socially engaged creative producer Shonagh Short agrees on the malleable nature of ‘working class’ – perhaps it is a status defined by its precariousness. “I think it’s really hard when you try and define [class] in economic terms because that can change throughout your life without fundamentally altering who you are – my situation now is not as financially precarious as it was in the past, but one unexpected life event could completely flip that... For me, class is about culture and belonging, and I know for a fact I am working class when I find myself in a space that isn’t.” Teesside photographer Kev Howard suggests a different approach to understanding what working class is, and that’s through geography. His view is that where you’re brought up can irrevocably shape your
