Valérie Lechêne

Overview

'What's your story?' is an auto-ethnographic film project that documents and amplify the experiences of architectural workers, specifically those in and around The Architecture Lobby (TAL). The project's goals include contextualizing TAL within the architecture labor movement, getting to know the stories, experiences, and organized motions of engaged architectural workers, getting immersed with their vision for the built environment and the building sector.

As one of two leaders for this campaign, I developed its scope by developing a research agenda and consulting various members of TAL over several months. Once the project approved and funded, I developed a timeline, methodology, and managed the project to realization over a two-year period.

A Moving Image for Design Justice

What's your story? is a campaign within The Architecture Lobby (TAL), a grassroots organization of architectural workers advocating for just labor practices and an equitable built environment. What’s your story? documents, makes accessible, and amplifies the voices and experiences of architectural workers through video productions. These moving image artifacts contextualize the formation and evolution of TAL within a broader architecture labor movement, inciting the viewer to share their stories as they relate to being in right relations with inhabiting and producing the built environment. The process of What's your story? is participatory, crowd-sourced, and methodological: interviews of TAL members are gathered by TAL members by following a co-designed methodology. When relevant, TAL members also interview people in groups allied and adjacent to TAL. This amalgamation of stories is curated into a long-form film documentary intended for a general audience. In addition, a series of short videos providing insights into specific topics are published via TAL’s digital stack (website and social media). The video productions make the story of TAL broadly accessible and invites new and renewed participation into the movement for a just built environment.

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I wouldn't look at evaluating different firms, some might not be as bad as others but I shy away from the good capitalist/bad capitalist paradigm and think getting the overall picture of where people are would be more productive. Or coordinating the different struggles of workers in design. I like the idea of polling people in the organization, or at least presenting a draft for open revisions.
— Anonymous Design Worker and Lobby Member, October 2021

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It seems that gathering information on people's experiences as design workers could be really useful, within the context of [...] capitalism's race to the bottom, almost as an oral history kind of project.
— Anonymous Design Worker and Lobby Member, January 2022

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What's your story? — amplifying architecture labor.

Can a film tell the story of a grassroots movement?

Project Lead ● 2 years

Overview

As one of two leaders for this campaign, I developed its scope by developing a research agenda and consulting various members of TAL over several months. Once the project approved and funded, I developed a timeline, methodology, and managed the project to realization over a two-year period.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING INTEREST IN MY WORK

Let's connect!

Drop me a note at v.lechene@columbia.edu.

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