Roberta Calore Sherwin, Curator
Artist's Statement
I apply art to tell stories and teach life's lessons. Having grown up within the world of trucking, my work has a strong documentary dimension in which I strive to highlight the importance of the working class in society today.
Over the past 12 years I have focused the lens of my camera on the abandoned mills and the migration that occurred to man these factories, which brought a population rich in heritage and culture diversity. I was first drawn to New Bedford in 1993, because of the city's factories and fishing boats, as well as its extensive history in trade and manufacturing.
At the beginning of the Industrial Age, workers came to the factories from their farms in search of work. The term was known as Farm-to-Factory. The factory owners enticed the farmers to trade the selling of their own self-made and self-grown goods for a life of work in the factories, which guaranteed a steady income.
The factory workers were unable to adjust to work in the factories, because they were accustomed to natural rhythms of time associated with the running their own farms. This was a conflict with factory life so the mill owners developed a system for controlling labor called the Rhode Island System. The mill owners developed a culture built around factory life. Critics also referred to the system as the Wage Slavery System.
The mill owners placed clock towers on their factories, which were used as a call to work. The clocks ran the bells controlling the life of the workers. Whole families worked in the mills and lived in factory-owned housing, went to factory-owned schools, traveled on factory-owned roads and attended factory built churches. Religion was encouraged by factory owners and was utilized as another tool to instill control over the workers.
Today, more than a decade after NAFTA, a large number of United States businesses have moved their manufacturing to border regions in Mexico and even more are relocating over seas to India and China. Many factory buildings in the Northeast stand abandoned with cracked and broken windows, surrounded by rusted fences.
Many of the factories in operation today pay low wages, and many have been operating with undocumented workers. The raids in 2006 at the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford show the importance of addressing humane immigration reform. The raid devastated the community in New Bedford, MA, as it tore apart families, separating children from their parents.
I dedicate this exhibit to all of the workers and their families, past and present, who toiled in the factories, fishing boats, businesses, and industries of New Bedford.
Pamela Calore, May 2011 |
