Archive in Motion: The ATU Workers of Metro Transit

Thursday, September 19, 2024
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street, Saint Paul, MN 55106

Registration encouraged for this in-person event

Join Photographers Leslie Grant and Jeffrey Skemp, David Stiggers, President of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 1005 and Metro Transit workers who are the subject of this stunning series of photographs, “Actions and Archives: The ATU Workers of Metro Transit” depicting days in the life of Metro Transit workers who keep the city moving. The event will be moderated by Isabela Escalona, photographer and journalist and Senior Associate Editor at Workday Magazine.

FROM THE ARTISTS
This project explores labor through a visual focus on members of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 1005 and Metro Transit employees. Images of the moment of labor, of tools and objects used, connect us to laborers – bus operators, mechanics, union leaders, rank and file members – and the crucial work they perform. Photographs are a way to pay attention to and honor the labor of public transit workers all around us. 

Our interest in public transit developed out of a larger project involving a loose collaboration of artists focused on the Shoreham Yards railyard in NE Minneapolis. Photographing trucking company employees at this site led us to consider other modes of transportation occurring nearby, and how public transit connects Shoreham to the greater life of the city through the lived experience of transit workers.

We started by attending ATU Local 1005 meetings to introduce ourselves and our project ideas to members. Once we met workers who wanted to participate, we spent time riding routes with bus operators such as Todd Eddy and M. Harris, taking pictures on the job and at the end of the line. We photographed Kira Ross, the first black female mechanic for Metro Transit, and we have also made portraits of David Stiggers, the current president of ATU Local 1005. Other images we have included are still lives of tools and objects used by bus operator Todd Eddy, documentation of the ATU Local 1005 archives, and historical images of public transit sites found at the Hennepin History Museum.

The erasure of labor runs through the history of photography. Our project (however),  highlights workers and labor union members in order to insist on the importance of the visibility of labor in contemporary life. And, photographs of all kinds can be generative – they hold the possibility to open up identities, resist simplicity, counteract harmful narratives, and imagine new ways of being in the world. 

Leslie Grant (she/her/hers) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with photography and archival materials. She uses images to connect with and tell the stories of people at work. Her practice includes collaboration with other makers to bring in multiple perspectives and ideas.

Jeffrey Skemp (he/him/his) is a multimedia artist and poet based in Minneapolis whose work often combines photography, poetry and video.  Several of his most recent projects have, in part, examined humanity’s complex relationship with our surrounding natural environment.

Isabela Escalona began working with Labor Education Service and Workday Magazine in 2022. Isabela worked as a Communications Organizer at Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) in Minneapolis for three years. Isabela works on short films, photographs, and other artistic projects.