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Mierle Laderman Ukeles, The Social Mirror, 1983, mirror covered sanitation truck, 28 feet, 2 inches x 8 feet, 4 inches x 10 feet, 6 inches, courtesy of New York City Department of Sanitation and the artist, image courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
Mierle Ukeles (b. 1939) is a "maintenance artist," best known for her feminist and service-oriented performance, installation, and video art. In 1977 Ukeles became the artist in residence at New York City's Department of Sanitation, a position she continues to hold. The Maintenance Manifesto,1969! typifies Ukeles' interest in maintenance as "keeping New York City alive," which culminated in her public art piece Touch Sanitation. This eleven-month project involved shaking hands with every New York City sanitation worker, talking with them, and thanking them for their work. Through this process, she reveals the way societies often equate workers with the work they do. Ukeles directly counters the notion of "garbage men" as de facto "untouchables" by publicly valuing them and embracing their work.
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"I'M VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT MAKING STATEMENTS ABOUT SANITATION WORKERS THAT SEEM TO PUT THEM ALL INTO A BOX WHERE ONE MAKES ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHAT KINDS OF PEOPLE THEY ARE WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING THEM AS INDIVIDUALS. ONE THING I KNOW FOR SURE ABOUT SANITATION WORKERS: THEY KNOW THE CITY: FOOT BY FOOT! INSIDE OUT!"
Mierle Laderman Ukeles
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I always had the feeling that I didn't know how to behave in front of people who were too upper class. So I had the feeling it wasn't just about money; it was also about having some complicated set of etiquette rules that other people didn't know about.
Classless Society Stories Project
I'm pretty sure I don't believe in the American dream. I just don't think it's possible for someone to work as hard as they can and provide for their family as much as they can, to go from rags to riches. It seems like TV nowadays glamorizes something like that. And now the easy way to make a dollar is to become famous, and that's what everyone wants to do. And I don't think that's the American dream, so I can't really believe in it.
Classless Society Stories Project
When I think about the terms, upper class, middle class, and working class, I sort of see a smoke-and-mirrors type of thing. I'm not really big on believing that these terms show or indicate the real power and the idea of ownership that I think class is really all about. I think that there is a ruling circle, a tiny minority, and that's becoming increasingly tinier in the United States and along the Western world, that owns most of the property and owns the production, the means of survival and production that determine where our lives go. And so the idea of a working class, to me, is all about people who have to sell their labor in order to survive. Honestly - sell their labor to an employer in order to survive.
Classless Society Stories Project
I ALWAYS HAD THE FEELING THAT I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE...
I'M PRETTY SURE I DON'T BELIEVE IN THE AMERICAN DREAM...
WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE TERMS, UPPER CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, AND WORKING CLASS, I SORT OF SEE A SMOKE-AND-MIRRORS TYPE OF THING...
WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE WORKING CLASS,
I THINK ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE PAID BY THE HOUR TO DO THE WORK THAT NO ONE ELSE WANTS TO DO...
(0:44 min)
I ALWAYS HAD THE FEELING THAT I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE IN FRONT OF PEOPLE WHO WERE TOO UPPER CLASS.
AS A YOUNG CHILD I SPENT MUCH TIME AT MY GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WHERE SHE TOOK IN PIECE WORK...
(1:52 min)
SUPPORT STAFF ARE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS, WHICH IS THE FANCY WORD FOR SECRETARY...
(0:49 min)
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