Lunch Break

Over the last 15 years Sharon Lockhart has made films and photographs that frame moments of everyday life while exploring the subtle relationships between the two media. Lockhart's latest films and photographic series describe a specific place and time: Maine's Bath Iron Works at the start of the 21st century. Lockhart spent the last year looking at the lives of workers in the historic shipyard and each project examines a different element of their everyday experience. Lunch Break features 42 workers as they take their midday break in a corridor stretching nearly the entire shipyard. Contrary to her previous films, the camera is untethered and, as it slowly moves down the corridor, we experience what was a brief interval in the workday schedule expanded into a sustained gaze. The soundtrack is a composition designed in collaboration with composer Becky Allen and filmmaker James Benning, in which industrial sounds, music, and voices slowly merge and intertwine. Together, picture and sound provide an extended meditation on a moment of respite from productive labor.
by Sharon Lockhart USA 2008 83’

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