Description

What work do you do without pay, and what would it look like if you recorded it on a timecard? Is it an act of giving? Is it expected or taken for granted? Does it make you frustrated, or does it bring you joy?

Join 'Clocking In for Unpaid Labour Canada' artists and curators Jennie Johnston and Shamina Senaratne for an art workshop that explores concepts around unpaid labour in our lives. Learn some basic design principles to think about, alongside to transform your idea into a physical expression of your experiences on a time card. All supplies provided. Participants are welcome to bring collage or other items they would like to include in their artwork.

'Clocking In For Unpaid Labour Canada' curated by Jennie Johnston and Shamina Senaratne runs from January 9, 2026 – April 9, 2026 in the Outlet Gallery #110-2248 McAllister Avenue, Port Coquitlam, BC.

Bios / Notes on the Panelists:

Unpaid Labour: Why does noticing unpaid labour matter? Who does it? Why? What do we value in our way of life and our communities that depends on unpaid labour? How do we benefit from the unpaid labour of others? How do we benefit from the unpaid labour we engage in? What are the costs of our unpaid labour to our health? psyche? status? personal economic situation? culture?

Dr. Kathleen Millar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Simon Fraser University. Her re-search has explored informal labour, waste, consumer debt, and urban poverty in Latin Ameri-ca. She is the author of the award-winning book, Reclaiming the Discarded: Life and Labour on Rio’s Garbage Dump, published by Duke University Press, which traces the life projects of thou-sands of urban poor who earn a living by collecting recyclables on a garbage dump in the out-skirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dr. Millar teaches courses on the anthropology of work, contem-porary ethnography, and existential anthropology. Currently (in Spring 2026), she is teaching a course at SFU called “SA 375 Labour and the Arts of Living,” which examines the relationship between work and life across the globe. In particular, the course explores precarity, informali-ty, unemployment, wageless life, work and citizenship, and post-work politics.

From the SFU calendar description: SA 375. "Introduces sociocultural approaches to labour by examining the relationship between work and life in different parts of the world. Students will be given opportunities to reflect on their own working lives and aspirations for future employ-ment. Topics include precarity, informality, unemployment, wageless life, work and citizenship, and post-work politics."

Dr. Mohsen Javdani is an associate professor of economics in the School of Public Policy at Si-mon Fraser University. Mohsen’s research interests are varied, spanning applied/empirical economics, labour economics, economic inequality (especially labour market inequalities and discrimination experienced by women, immigrants, and racial minorities), and more recently the role of ideological biases in mainstream economics. However, one identifiable theme in his work is studying and challenging the mechanisms and processes that hinder plurality and pro-duce inequality, injustice, exclusion, and marginalization. In his personal life, Mohsen is quite passionate about cinema, literature, politics, social justice, and interactions between these top-ics/mediums.

Ginger Sedlarova is a participating artist in Clocking in for Unpaid Labour. She is a storyteller, a collage artist, painter and photographer who worked as a graphic artist for decades in both daily media in Vancouver and on newspapers and magazines in Central Europe. Prague, Czech Republic is her second home. Her former career inspired her love of working with photos and composition, but now that she doesn’t have an editor looking over her shoulder while she works, she loves to play and indulge in the unexpected. A Beatlemaniac, Sedlarova lives in Burnaby, B.C. with her husband and two rescue cats. Her work has appeared in galleries across Canada and in Europe.

For more information about the arts and the City’s Exhibition program visit portcoquitlam.ca/exhibitions

Age Category

All Ages

Location

Workroom