K. Selavrani

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“ I found taking photos interesting. I’d like to take more. I’d taken more pictures, but some of them have been lost whilst the pictures were copied. My favourite image was of two kids, and a homeworker, but that one’s been lost. If homeworkers get recognised, that will change things for me – it will be better. I didn’t join the project with that intention though – I used to be a social worker so I came at it from the angle, though the help with the demand for recognition is a plus.”

Selvarani

“If it’s a company in a factory, they clean daily. But since we are at home, we can’t clean daily as our focus is on turning around the work. We try and clean when there’s less work, but it’s hard to maintain. To clean the entire machine takes a full

“If it’s a company in a factory, they clean daily. But since we are at home, we can’t clean daily as our focus is on turning around the work. We try and clean when there’s less work, but it’s hard to maintain. To clean the entire machine takes a full hour, which is hard when we have so many other priorities. We should wear masks, but since we don’t get given these and have to buy them, we often sneeze because of the dust particles. Whilst we are working, if the dust gets attached to the piece we are working on, it will be rejected by the contractors and we don’t get paid for it. With cotton, you don’t get the fine dust but with polyester, it’s very fine dust and a lot of it. We breathe them into our lungs and it causes coughing Every home worker and tailor is affected by this. We cannot complain to the company that it’s dusty, and we can’t work – it’s our work at home, and so it’s our responsibility. ”

“This is homework, even though it’s quite a big setup in the sheds. In a factory setup, printing would be done by machines and set up continuously. This place is also fairly makeshift, and it’s set up according to when people get orders. People in th

“This is homework, even though it’s quite a big setup in the sheds. In a factory setup, printing would be done by machines and set up continuously. This place is also fairly makeshift, and it’s set up according to when people get orders. People in this work get paid on a weekly basis, not per piece – but it’s not guaranteed work. It’s mostly done by women. This building will be close by the houses of the workers. This place is run by a family –if there’s a mistake, they get scolded by the contractors and will then scold the workers, but it’s better than a factory – the relationships are better. If they pay per piece, even if you can take a break, you wouldn’t, but here, when the pay is by the week, you can take a break. You can’t do that in a factory.”

“This is a room in someone else’s house, close by to my home. I don’t work there myself, I work from my own home. The woman in pink is the helper, who had made a mistake – she’d placed the material back on back so it was unable. In this image, she’s

“This is a room in someone else’s house, close by to my home. I don’t work there myself, I work from my own home. The woman in pink is the helper, who had made a mistake – she’d placed the material back on back so it was unable. In this image, she’s explaining what happened. It’s a small place where four to five women work – that’s my husband there. The padlock mission (one of the machines pictured) is mostly operated by men, but here you can see a woman doing that. She wants to come forward in life, so she’s leaning to use the machine. That’s why I shot this image, to show her wanting to come forward.”

“This is a rose on my terrace at home. I found it looked good. I sowed the seed myself, and every day, took water upstairs to help it grow. I have another two or three medicinal plants, and three types of flowering plants. One is a purple December fl

“This is a rose on my terrace at home. I found it looked good. I sowed the seed myself, and every day, took water upstairs to help it grow. I have another two or three medicinal plants, and three types of flowering plants. One is a purple December flower, which flowers a lot in December. When I see my plants in the evening and the morning, it feels relaxing.”

“When I shot this photo, that morning, the helper had not showed to up to the stitching, so the woman pictured was having to do two jobs, This will slow her down, and mean she’s paid less overall. If the helper comes, she can do 200 pieces – if the h

“When I shot this photo, that morning, the helper had not showed to up to the stitching, so the woman pictured was having to do two jobs, This will slow her down, and mean she’s paid less overall. If the helper comes, she can do 200 pieces – if the helper doesn’t show up, she can sew only 100.”

“He’s wearing headphones, which is not allowed in a factory. Even in homebased work, it’s not really allowed – only if you are doing it in your own home. In a small family company outside the home, you have people to talk with, and constantly things

“He’s wearing headphones, which is not allowed in a factory. Even in homebased work, it’s not really allowed – only if you are doing it in your own home. In a small family company outside the home, you have people to talk with, and constantly things are happening around you which is interesting. At home it can get boring – so after half an hour or so, you end up watching some news or listening to the radio or taking tea. work in my own house, so I have the freedom to do these things, as well as housework, when I work from my house.”

“So this a machine which creates designs in the fabric. There are several threads which go into the same needle – 7 threads into 4 needles – to make piping and other trimmings. This is only in the house – they have two machines. If the machine breaks

“So this a machine which creates designs in the fabric. There are several threads which go into the same needle – 7 threads into 4 needles – to make piping and other trimmings. This is only in the house – they have two machines. If the machine breaks, there is a mechanic, but we have to pay for the repairs – the contractor won’t pay for them. In a factory, this wouldn’t happen. We buy second hand machines, which are much cheaper. This work pays more, they pay based on the size (small, medium and large). If you were doing hand stitching, you’d get a higher price, but this is a lot quicker so we are getting paid more overall as we can do more pieces. It’s seasonal and depends on how much work is available. I shot this photo because preparing the roll is one job, and another is putting into the machine – there are many stages to homebased work and I wanted to show this. After this, the garment goes to other homeworkers for finishing.

“This is my grandson, studying to the 5th Standard. His name is Vishwa and he’s 11. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up. My son and his wife come to visit me, they live nearby, but my grandson lives with me and goes to school nearby. I take good

“This is my grandson, studying to the 5th Standard. His name is Vishwa and he’s 11. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up. My son and his wife come to visit me, they live nearby, but my grandson lives with me and goes to school nearby. I take good take care of him, so he wants to stay and not return to them! He comes to me for everything – if he needs pencils or has a headache. I attend his parent teacher meetings too. My son works as a tailor."