Uncertain Futures
+100 Women

Stories of Women, Work and Uncertain Futures is the third, and concluding, exhibition of Uncertain Futures, an immense collaborative work combining art, research and activism that spans five years. A new three channel film by Lacy and Mark Thomas, highlighted the multiple inequalities around work faced by women as they age, with a focus on the affective quality of women's experiences. Three vertical screens featured different women entering and exiting a theatrical space, reading scripts drawn from the 100 interviews. The work adopted a practice by the political playwright Bertold Brecht called Epic Theater. The idea was to start off as if speakers were recounting their own experiences, but soon, through techniques like exchanging scripts between actors on different screens, walking on and off stage, and finally putting the voices from the script into bodies that could not be the older women themselves-much younger women, prompting the audience to understand the universality of the experiences. Audience reports particularly highlighted the emotional impact of the 20-minute film.

Outside the room constructed for viewing the film, portions of the project manifesto were printed on the wall and a short 8-minute video revealed the research findings of the project. The film was created for use in the many policy and community-based meetings, conferences and media presentations. Copies of the Manifesto were available for visitors to take away as posters.