Illuminating Hi Vis: Politics, Workers, Safety & Social Invisibility

 

RESEARCH TEAM

Dr Jesse Adams Stein (Design, UTS DAB)

Dr Bettina Frankham (Media Arts Production, UTS FASS)

Dr Elizabeth Humphrys (Social and Political Sciences, UTS FASS) 

 

OVERVIEW

This interdisciplinary project examines the experiences of hi-vis workers and the historical and social context of hi-vis garments in Australia. 

The project draws on the team’s expertise in history, design, labour relations, and creative screen production, to examine a rarely considered but ubiquitous aspect of Australian cultural and industrial life.

Through traditional research and research led creative practice, the researchers are exploring:

  • Visibility, invisibility, and safety: How and why does the wearing of hi-vis simultaneously render workers visible and invisible?
  • Class, politics, and protest: How has hi-vis been made political in Australia, and what does it communicate in this regard?
  • Gender: How is gender implicated in the wearing of hi-vis in Australia?
  • Creative practice: Investigating the intellectual, emotional, and social terrain of wearing hi vis through moving image practice.

The project will develop a more comprehensive ‘map’ of the social context of hi vis, illuminating its industrial, political, and societal dimensions.