Hello, my name is Kelly O’Brien. I am an artist and researcher. I’m originally from Derby and grew up on a council estate with my single mother and Irish immigrant family. I come from a long line of cleaners. In Ireland, my great-grandmother Josie had a large family. She worked multiple cleaning and domestic jobs to support the family. My grandmother Bridget emigrated from Ireland in the 1950s and was a cleaner too. My mum Janet, now in her mid-60s, is still a cleaner, sometimes working 13-hour days. And then when I was 13, I became a cleaner too. My first job was cleaning a nightclub with my mum and other women from the estate.
In 2004 I became interested in photography. Over the years, I’ve documented the intimate lives of my mother and grandmother. I take photos that show the real life of “working poor” women. My photos show how intergenerational poverty, and paid and unpaid labour, affect the body and mind. Looking at the art, all the photos are of my mum or grandma. I took the photos of them at work, at home and at leisure. The wall is covered in white wallpaper, textured with wood chips. My mum and grandma’s council houses had the same wallpaper, and I wanted to show how much unpaid labour happens at home.
You can see two images of the same woman. My mum explains more about this: “Me and Kelly worked as a pair to make these performative images. One photograph showing a statuesque cleaner, depicting the strength of the working women we know, and then another image where the figure is slumped down, holding on to her tools to stay on her feet, communicating the reality of what doing such work can do to the body. I know how it feels to be that exhausted from work, from being poor. These images offer something relatable to those who feel the same. Making this set of images was a way to articulate my own struggles.” That was my mother’s explanation.
You can see the CV I have created, overlaying the working life of my grandma, my mum and myself. I am not currently working as a domestic cleaner, cleaning nightclubs, offices or homes. But I still continue to clean through my practice as an artist. My work involves cleaning up, reorganising, and repairing harmful representations that negatively impact the lives of poor and working-class women. The restorative work I do is for my family. It’s for all poor working women, all workers who are knackered because of the paid and unpaid labour that they repeatedly do. For all of you who feel unseen and undervalued by society… this art is for you.