The Value of Housework

27 November 2020 - 1 March 2021

Intermission - Nasima Begum

The Value of Housework, still, part 1. Nasima Begum 2020
The Value of Housework, still, part 1. Nasima Begum 2020

Nasima Begum, working with a selection of women from Aurora Trinity Collective, has made a short film which will be released in two parts. The film opens up thoughts and feelings in relation to housework and exploring the value and worth of housework from women’s stories and experiences. The project creates a safe space to share feelings and thoughts at a time when isolating has brought our relationships with ‘home’ into focus.


Part 1 - 05'43'

The film is an edit from zoom interviews that Nasima has conducted around the topic of housework with 6 other women from Aurora (A Women's Art and Textiles collective) all of different age, background and life circumstances about the value of housework. As well conducting the interviews, Nasima also took part in the discussions and expressed her own thoughts and feelings. The women were asked about the housework they do, how they would describe their relationship with housework, how it feels to them when housework is done and how it feels when there is still housework to do. Other areas of discussion were, what it would mean for them to have the house tidy most of the time and the ease or difficulties of managing both work and housework. The women also discussed their thoughts about cleaning as a profession and thoughts about hiring a cleaner which then leads the discussion to how they all valued their own work of one's work which would be further film.

Rather than including long narratives from the interviews, the style of the short film will capture all the similar themes, thoughts and feelings women of different backgrounds and cultures have about housework, the audience will get a feel of the ease or hardships in relation to women's work around the house depending on the individual circumstances of the women interviewed.


Part 2 - 07'48'

The second film discusses women and housework again but this time focusing on the value of paid work and unpaid work. The women share ways in which they choose to nurture themselves in their spare time and describe their own reflections about how they felt since the last interviews describing either new or existing thoughts and realisations of their own in relation to cleaning and housework. They go on to discuss how they want to feel about housework in the future and the value given to paid and unpaid work by their own culture or societies.

  • The Value of Housework, Work in Progress. Nasima Begum 2020
  • The Value of Housework, still, part 1. Nasima Begum 2020
  • The Value of Housework, still, part 1. Nasima Begum 2020
  • The Value of Housework, still, part 2. Nasima Begum 2020
  • The Value of Housework, still, part 2. Nasima Begum 2020

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