Kim Waldron\u2019s work with staged photographic self-portraiture is often the outcome of durational projects that embed the artist in social situations. Through self-representation, Waldron probes the question of an individual\u2019s place in the social world\u200a\u2014\u200awhat one does and how one appears to others\u200a\u2014\u200ain ways that touch on intimate relationships as well as professional and economic domains. Often depicting herself at work in various contexts, Waldron creates narrative tableaux that question what kind of labour is socially visible and who performs it. At the same time, much of her own process relies on work that occurs behind the scenes: gaining access to sites and resources, learning skills, forming relationships and building trust, and engaging in the dialogue that makes the work possible and determines its form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working Assumption<\/em> (2003) laid the groundwork for the subsequent focus on labour in Waldron\u2019s practice: she asked male strangers from a variety of professions if she could borrow their clothes and their workspace, in which she photographed herself enacting the poses of their job. A later piece, Made in Qu\u00e9bec<\/em> (2015), considered the power dynamics of the global distribution of labour. Waldron \u201cexported\u201d herself to Xiamen, China, where she attempted to \u201cgive back\u201d some of the labour time saved by cheap Chinese industry by performing unpaid work in local facilities. Expecting to find Xiamen (a \u201cspecial economic zone\u201d) dominated by large factories, Waldron discovered that such places were not easy to see. Instead, she was placed in small businesses where, to minimize the complications caused by translation and training, she ultimately focused on staging photographs as a means of integrating into the work force. Like Working Assumption<\/em>\u2019s incongruous images of a young woman draped in the oversized uniform of a priest, mechanic, or businessman, the effect of Made in Qu\u00e9bec<\/em> derives from seeing the artist working where she does not appear to belong. With her most recent project, Kim Waldron Ltd. <\/em>(2016\u2013), Waldron has taken self-representation a step beyond personal<\/em> identity. Reflecting on the decentralization and financialization of the global economy, she has incorporated an offshore company in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n