Uncertain Futures
+100 Women

Uncertain Futures set out to address inequalities facing Manchester women over 50 relating to work and worklessness in order to understand how interconnected issues of gender, age, labour, class, migration status, disability and race impact women's paid and unpaid work. Manchester has higher than the national average rates of worklessness in the 50-64 age group. The unexpected change that raised the pension age for women across the UK in 2011 and the impact of Covid-19 on working lives created an urgent need to investigate and bring these issues to public attention.

The project began as an artwork but quickly the intersection of art, activism, and research became clear, based on the seriousness of our intentions to create cross-disciplinary solutions. It is comprised of three key areas of work: a series of aesthetic productions organised and presented through three sequential exhibitions at the Manchester Art Gallery; a rigorous participatory research project, one that is truly participatory, accompanied by multiple public presentations and a final report; and an activist organising project aimed at raising the level of awareness about intersectional issues around work and ageing.

The project was formed through the vision of American artist and academic Suzanne Lacy working with Learning Manager Ruth Edson at Manchester Art Gallery who undertook a fact-finding series of focus groups and identified researcher Dr. Sarah Campbell: Manchester Metropolitan University, as a team member to lead the participatory research project. We began to work across our disciplines to consider how to integrate a serious approach to cutting edge social practice art with a serious approach to cutting edge participatory research. We became both an arts-based research project and a research-based art project.

The first stage was to undertake a consultation across Manchester with various organisations and women's groups to discuss with diverse groups of women over 50 questions about the pertinent issues facing ageing women in the workplace. The changes in The Pensions Act 2011 accelerated the rise of the state pension age to 66 for both men and women but the issue, as we discovered, was far deeper than the increase in age for women.

Dr. Elaine Dewhurst: University of Manchester, joined the team as a co-research lead as the consultation drew to a close in early 2020, just as Covid-19 began to emerge and impact working lives around the world, particularly affecting older people. Manchester Art Gallery closed to the public and exhibitions were postponed. However, like many organisations, work went online. From March through August of 2020, a series of on-line conversations were hosted virtually by Manchester Art Gallery and Suzanne Lacy. Activists, academics, arts professionals, policymakers and community representatives from organisations were invited to discuss issues regarding work for older women and topics like "care practices" emerged in the museum field as a result of Covid. The conversations continued over a number of months, and project ideas were developed. 

The Advisory Group of 15 women was formed between March and September 2020. This group, who advised on all aspects of the project, represent a diverse group of women who were active in their communities, from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, women whose ages ranged from 50 -- 80, women who were newly migrated to the city and others who had lived in Manchester all of their lives. Weekly meetings were held virtually to develop project goals and co-design the first gallery installation -- a room that served as an interview site to confidentially collect the work experiences of women over 50 representing a cross section of Manchester residents. Together with the researchers the Advisory Group designed a 'data matrix' of key intersectional work experiences and, through their communities, recruited 100 women from diverse backgrounds to take part in interviews held in the gallery. This first installation constituted a "performance of research".

In June 2021 the exhibition opened at the Manchester Art Gallery. Along with the painting Work by Ford Maddox Brown, the interview room served as the focus of the installation, with a window opening out from a small room where interviews took place during gallery hours and where anonymised interviews were displayed as artifacts after each interview.

Great care was taken to intersect the aesthetics with the research protocols, which involved a thoughtful negotiation throughout the entire work. During the interviews white noise was played to disguise the sound from the booth and a red-light box indicated the booth was active, the blinds were drawn to further anonymise the interview process, creating internally a safe and private space for the interviews to take place. The entire project was infused with thoughtful consideration of the “ethics of representation”, through ensuring that, community leadership and participation in the project was reflective of Manchester’s demographics.

During this installation, workshops, talks and media presentations that explored equity and survival took place, extending the work of the project into the Manchester public sphere. In partnership with Manchester City Council's Work and Skills team, seven public sessions explored retraining, rights at work, pensions, confident language, menopause and leadership for women over 50. This also involved a series of Chai and Chats (between community groups and members of the Advisory Group), policy events aimed at disseminating preliminary findings, meetings and tours with relevant stakeholders (academics, funders, policy organisations, City Council etc). 

In March 2022, the 100 women interviewed were invited to a celebratory dinner at the Manchester Art Gallery with a programme led by Advisory Group members. The entire event was planned as a discursive "performance," in which the interviewed women were invited into the networks forming from the project.  

In September 2022, the second of three installations opened at the Manchester Art Gallery, to provide an in-depth review of the structure and process of the project. Inside the room, research methodologies were revealed alongside the anonymised transcripts from 100 interviews. 

Alongside this, the 'Chai and Chat' gatherings continued for informal and intimate conversations with a wide range of women. The group also held a policy event aimed at disseminating the research findings to relevant stakeholders. Private meetings were also help with relevant city council officials, MPs, government departments and the project was presented to the Government's Science Office. The Gallery space was often used to host ad hoc community groups, funders, cultural organisations, academics and students to stimulate discussion and encourage creative practice as a means of influencing policy. 

In March 2024, the third installation opened entitled Stories of Women, Work and Uncertain Futures. This was the concluding exhibition of Uncertain Futures at Manchester Art Gallery, but future exhibitions are planned in other countries. A new three channel film used exerts from the 100 interviews undertaken in 2021, narrated by Advisory Group members and other actors. As the film progresses, what first appears to be women recounting their own personal experiences is transformed into an understanding that these accounts are, in actuality, universal ones. The film was shown alongside a manifesto calling for change, a photograph of the 100 women interviewed and a documentary which outlines the research findings.