You Never Asked My Name

Art Exhibition – Junction Cambridge 5^th to 8^th October 10am to 6pm

Preview 5-7pm Sat 4th – All Welcome

The dark blue tabards that cleaners, carers and other low paid and precarious workers are habitually made to wear, are transformed with embroidery and sound recordings recounting the experiences of migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers. Workers wearing these tabards are frequently marginalised and discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexuality, skin colour, religion and disabilities etc.  The uniform contradictorily marks people as different and thus makes them a target for less favourable treatment, but at the same time renders them invisible.  These workers are chronically undervalued and because of their low wages and the increasing cost of living, often have to work extremely long hours, sometimes in more than one employment, in order to try and survive.  Many make use of food banks and other sources of increasingly institutionalised charity. 

Currently, UK law and systems often serve to work against migrant workers and other low paid workers in the UK.  For example, most Asylum seekers are disallowed from gaining employment and if their housing provision includes meals, they receive as little as £9.95 a week.  Whilst the Certificate of Sponsorship scheme operated in the UK means that migrant workers rely on often unscrupulous private employers holding the certificate, to remain in the UK legally, giving the Sponsor power to coerce the worker into receiving little to no pay, and to threaten them with deportation if they raise concerns. This is of particular concern in the area of health and social care, where workers report exceptionally extreme deprivation such as, having to pay large fees to come to the UK, being asked to pay debts for ‘services’, not being given work to live on, being required to work up to 100 hours a week, deduction of wages, inadequate accommodation, bullying, harassment and discrimination.

“They treat (us) like modern-day slaves” (Unison Migrant Care Report 2024)

Sound by Diana Scarborough – https://dianascarborough.co.uk/

Preview Saturday 4^th October 5pm to 7pm

Jill Eastland, Maren (Counterpoints Arts), Migrant Worker (Unison)

Interactive workshop Wednesday 8^th October 1pm to 4pm

Jill invites you to wear the dark blue tabards.  Jill will discuss how she has used these tabards as a kind of canvas to draw and stitch onto with words and images about workers rights and migration, as a tool for solidarity and to investigate the everyday experience of wearing them.