For me Labour Weekend, a New Zealand public holiday, has always been associated with celebrating my birthday and with miserable wet weather. But, it is an important weekend holiday that has more significance than merely time off work.
Labour Day is actually a time to celebrate the 8 hour working day, for which New Zealand was at the forefront of establishing. The carpenter Samuel Parnell is the acknowledged father of this right for workers, as back as early as 1840. But it wasn’t until The Labour Day Act of 1899, that established this public holiday.
It is a good time to consider our labour, as artists. To think about the ramifications of our ability to work and how this act, in inherently political, especially in our current political culture, here in NZ.
For myself, my ability to work is not guaranteed. I continue to suffer from PTSD and am currently going through the process of being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I do not always have the energy required to work, and when I do work, it costs me with fatigue and other symptoms. I have been fortunate enough to find some casual employment in the arts and culture sector, but I often have to rest for longer than the period of labour. And more significantly, when I labour for others, as in paid labour, I then have such a limited amount of energy left, that my own artistic work suffers significantly. This is a dance that I am struggling to find a rhythm that works well for me. And yet, I count myself fortunate.
My current situation has given me opportunity to consider whether our artistic labour culture is a healthy one. And I often have to admit, that for many, including myself, it isn’t always. So how do we continue to labour for the arts and look after ourselves and others too.
