Liverpool artwork of the day – Thursday April 26 2007. ‘The Water’s Edge’ Photography exhibition at Open Eye. April 14 – June 2 2007
To mark the 800th anniversary of the founding of the city of Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery presents The Water’s Edge, an exhibition that explores a remarkable but neglected part of the city’s history. Photographer Michelle Sank has been commissioned to produce a series of portraits of women who work (or worked) on and around the Liverpool waterfront, as dockers, port police, sex workers, painters, crane operators, pub landladies, hostesses, cooks, social workers and in many other capacities. The project also includes women from Liverpool who went away to sea.
The exhibition has been produced in close collaboration with Working at the Edge of the World, a unique sound archive containing stories and reminiscences of around 50 women, ranging in age from 19 to 98. The archive was created by writer and researcher Joanne Lacey, inspired by the memories of her grandmother, who worked as a ships’ cleaner in the 1950s.