This project is a contribution to gender studies in the field of visual culture to dismantle the current approach, proposing and developing new and not degrading and objectifying aesthetics and practices.

The "Women At Work" campaign, launched by the femLENS association, was created to claim the dignity of the narration of women's work, be it manual, intellectual or domestic. To the project, F.I.G.A. by Alysvisualart.com participates as a femLENS Ambassador by collecting and publishing photographic works made by Italian women both resident in Italy and expats abroad.

The goal is to create an alternative to traditional stock images of women at work by documenting reality, making seemingly distant realities dialogue. To do this, our common mission is to give a voice to communities through documentary photography by providing free visual and technological education to women.

It has been a long time since we've seen undistorted portraits of working women in print media. Since the start of the era of consumerism and social media, what we are exposed to is either airbrushed celebrities or the poverty on the other side of the social ladder. 

Two works will be selected for international publication in the zine Women at Work curated by femLENS which will be released at the end of 2021. The two selected participants will receive a prize of €100 to support the activity and research.

All the selected works will be published F.i.g.a. Pop-Up, first edition of the photozine dedicated to the project F.I.G.A. for the re-appropriation of bodies, spaces and meanings, downloadable from the alysvisualart.com site from January 2022; in addition, all participants will be invited to participate immediately to get to know our community on the Discord platform, a virtual laboratory of artivism and photographic documentation.

Instructions: If you would like to contribute your photographs of working women, please follow these steps:

1. A selection of 1 to 10 relevant images of women at work.

2. Make sure to include your name, the name of the woman in the photo, the job/role she is doing, city/country and date, as well as your approval for the photos to be licensed under the “CC BY-NC-ND: (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives)” license. You can also write an artist statement and a short biography if you like.

3. If you like, consider interviewing a woman, using the questions below. Ask other questions that you feel are appropriate as long as you record the question and the answer. Record your notes on a separate sheet of paper or on your phone.

• Name of interviewer:  
• Name of interviewee:
• Date of interview:  
• Place of interview: 
• Any info relevant to the interview (age, location, industry)
• What was your very first job?
• What do you call yourself now? What is your job position now? Why did you start this job?
• Tell me a bit about how you became a …?
• What educational background or professional training did you have before starting your first job? Did you receive on-the-job training?
• Have you ever been a part of  mentoring program?
• Do you know if your work is protected (pensions, benefits, state recognition)?
• What is the best/most rewarding part of your job?
• How do you balance your job with your family life, volunteer work, hobbies and other interests? Did that balance change over time? Do you have any mother and child facilities at work?
• Is there anything you wish you had done differently in your career? Are there any job opportunities or careers you would like to explore?
• What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a woman thinking of starting a career in …?
• Do you think there’s a stereotype attached to female workers in this field?
• In your opinion, is it important that more women take up … in the near future?
• What do you think is the biggest issue today facing women of your age?
• How important is it for women to lift each other up and what does that mean to you?