Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2015 16:24:00 GMT
I'm sure Yorko wouldn't have worn shoulder pads. 
Big hair, bigger phones, shoulder pads and portraits of Maggie on the walls
Big hair, bigger phones, shoulder pads and portraits of Maggie on the walls
These vintage photographs show how much office life has changed since the 1980s - the era of shoulder pads and gigantic mobile phones.
The images were captured by photographer Anna Fox in dozens of different offices, making up a snapshot of the way Britain worked during the era of Thatcher.
The pictures' creator says they summon up an age of increasing individualism, when workers became keener than ever to make their fortunes and carve out their own identity.
Among the scenes which now appear jarringly anachronistic are the typing pool, the phones which need their own battery pack - and of course the extravagant haircuts.
The series, called 'Work Stations', took two years to complete, with Ms Fox visiting 60 offices as part of a project commissioned by the Museum of London and now-defunct gallery Camerawork.
Some of the companies - including Rank Xerox, which ended up sponsoring the exhibition - were welcoming to the photographer, allowing her to spend up to week with workers and giving her free reign around the office.
However, other were less trusting, giving Ms Fox just an hour to capture her images and insisting that she be accompanied by a company official at all times.
'They were incredibly varied,' the photographer said. 'I went to high-end banks and insurance companies in the centre of town and then small manufacturing companies on the edges of the city.'
The photographs were not captioned with the names of the companies where they were taken, because Ms Fox wanted to 'make a comment on office life generally'.
She added: 'The whole essence of it is to record history - there really wasn't much record of office life at the time.
'Everything seems so old fashioned, the dress, the office equipment, the massive mobile phone. It was the beginning of a slippery slope in the UK - the pursuit of individual wealth superceded engagement with community affairs.
'As well it was Thatcher's Britain, a fascinating political era - her famous phrase "There is no such thing as society, just individuals" echoes throughout the whole series.'
Ms Fox, 54, said that one of her favourite images showed a young male office worker eating a fry-up for breakfast.
'It's a more dramatic image because it's harder to get more close up,' she said. 'I was right in his face.'
The works will be on display at OCT in Chengdu, China as part of an exhibition on British photography since the 1960s running from September 25 until December 31.
Ms Fox said that she would like to repeat the experiment in order to bring her images of the office up to date - but she fears that an increasingly closed corporate culture would make it harder to gain access to companies.
The images were captured by photographer Anna Fox in dozens of different offices, making up a snapshot of the way Britain worked during the era of Thatcher.
The pictures' creator says they summon up an age of increasing individualism, when workers became keener than ever to make their fortunes and carve out their own identity.
Among the scenes which now appear jarringly anachronistic are the typing pool, the phones which need their own battery pack - and of course the extravagant haircuts.
The series, called 'Work Stations', took two years to complete, with Ms Fox visiting 60 offices as part of a project commissioned by the Museum of London and now-defunct gallery Camerawork.
Some of the companies - including Rank Xerox, which ended up sponsoring the exhibition - were welcoming to the photographer, allowing her to spend up to week with workers and giving her free reign around the office.
However, other were less trusting, giving Ms Fox just an hour to capture her images and insisting that she be accompanied by a company official at all times.
'They were incredibly varied,' the photographer said. 'I went to high-end banks and insurance companies in the centre of town and then small manufacturing companies on the edges of the city.'
The photographs were not captioned with the names of the companies where they were taken, because Ms Fox wanted to 'make a comment on office life generally'.
She added: 'The whole essence of it is to record history - there really wasn't much record of office life at the time.
'Everything seems so old fashioned, the dress, the office equipment, the massive mobile phone. It was the beginning of a slippery slope in the UK - the pursuit of individual wealth superceded engagement with community affairs.
'As well it was Thatcher's Britain, a fascinating political era - her famous phrase "There is no such thing as society, just individuals" echoes throughout the whole series.'
Ms Fox, 54, said that one of her favourite images showed a young male office worker eating a fry-up for breakfast.
'It's a more dramatic image because it's harder to get more close up,' she said. 'I was right in his face.'
The works will be on display at OCT in Chengdu, China as part of an exhibition on British photography since the 1960s running from September 25 until December 31.
Ms Fox said that she would like to repeat the experiment in order to bring her images of the office up to date - but she fears that an increasingly closed corporate culture would make it harder to gain access to companies.
