Fesh Quines.

Fesh Quines (working title) is inspired by the cultural heritage of the Scottish women who worked as migrant workers in the herring fishing industry, travelling down the east coast of the UK, from Shetland to Peterhead and Great Yarmouth, gutting and packing the herring, getting them ready for market. My grandmother was one of these women working to gut the herring, retiring on the harbour in Lerwick on her 80th birthday in 1976. In the face of poor working conditions and low wages the women came together in solidarity. The importance of these women to the success of the herring industry is undervalued by our museum heritage, where it is often side-lined to the archives. This work resists the romanticised version of their history instead celebrating the migrant worker and their importance to the fishing industry through first hand narratives. In depth interviews conducted with participants about the Fesh Quines from multiple perspectives of the labour, work and living conditions, knitting, and singing has been woven to make this sound work.