Line Time

Line Time is a collaborative research and creative project developed through Freedom Women Collective and co-produced by Dr Pippa Oldfield and Dr Lee Karen Stow in collaboration with artists Arafa Gouda, Ethar Dirar and Mayas Dirar, with curator Prof Sarah Perks and project partners including Imperial War Museums, Reckitt Heritage Archive Hull and Teesside University. Emerging from the lived experiences of refugee and migrant women working on contemporary factory production lines alongside archival research into women’s industrial labour, the project explores the often overlooked histories and ongoing realities of women’s work during periods of war and peacetime. Through co-produced and interdisciplinary methodologies—including archival research, photography, painting, screen-printing, poetry and visual experimentation—the project examines questions of labour, visibility, migration and collective memory. Bringing together historical and contemporary experiences, Line Time contributes to wider discussions around gendered labour, displacement and representation while extending Freedom Women Collective’s research into collaborative authorship and socially engaged artistic practice.

Line Time is a creative project that brings together artists, researchers and members of Freedom Women Collective to explore women’s experiences of factory work across different times and places. Inspired by the experiences of refugee and migrant women working on production lines today, and by archive photographs and stories of women factory workers from the past, the project uses art, photography, printmaking and workshops to connect hidden stories of work, care and everyday life. The project asks what women’s working lives can tell us about migration, community and the changing nature of labour.

Emerging findings suggest significant parallels between historic and contemporary experiences of women’s industrial labour, particularly around invisibility, routine, migration and gendered forms of work. The project highlights the value of collaborative and creative methodologies in uncovering overlooked histories and creating new connections between archival materials and lived experience. Line Time also indicates how artistic and co-produced approaches can generate alternative understandings of labour and contribute to broader discussions around migration, representation and social history.