The Art of Flat Labour Organising: Participatory Art and Migrant Domestic Workers’ Self-Organising in London
There has been an upsurge of interest regarding how actors engage with art within organisational processes. However, scholars have tended not to study the role of art within contemporary collective labour organizing. This paper focuses on how participatory art may support flat, participative labour organising, particularly among marginalised, relatively powerless workers. We present an ethnographic account of how art practices are deeply embedded within the flat organising processes of Justice For Domestic Workers, a self-organising group of migrant domestic workers in London. We reflect on this case to theorise the art of flat organising, an ideal type of a set of participatory art practices that are compatible with and supportive of flat labour organising.