City Air Liberates
"Libraries gave us power
Then work came and made us free"
Nicky Wire, 1996
The woman in my photograph relates to a steam engine. The photo represents imaginary cross-section from the inside of
the machine. I want to toy with a thought that there is an anonymous workingwoman inside a steam engine.
Steam engine's cylinder pairs are often named after women as well as many other machines that are seen as gracious and noble. The women are those who are remembered because of their social status. The act of respect can contradictorily also be considered as a commodification. In reality women were absent from the actual working space where steam engines were located. In my photograph the woman is present and her participation is undeniable.
