Bertien van Manen

Turkish employee of a dry cleaners, dry cleaner Azea in Hoorn (1977) "In 1975 Bertien van Manen embarked on a project of her own: photographing the living and working conditions of migrant women in the Netherlands. it was her response to a recently published book devoted to male 'guest workers', titled 'A Seventh Mam', in which author John Berger and photographer Jean Mohr expressed the hope that somebody else would make a book about women. When Bertien thinks back on how complicated it was to photograph those women and to get permission form their husbands, she is convinced that a man would not have succeeded. There were advantages to being a woman, as it often turned out henceforth. " text by Hripsimé Visser from: 'Archive', Bertien van Manen, MACK, London, 2021