Betty Yu's "The Garment Worker", an interactive media installation was part of the 2014 Tribeca Film Institute's line up for their Interactive Day. "The Garment Worker" focuses on the daily life of a garment worker and the hardships she/he encounters working in a sweatshop. Through the integration of a sewing machine, video and audio, “The Garment Worker” provides a rare look into garment working conditions that Chinese immigrants face in New York City through the personal story of the artist. The user experiences the sounds and motions of a garment worker. When the user turns the balance wheel or slide the stitch control different stories and facts of the garment industry appear on the screen.
This interactive media piece also includes a short film, Discovering My Grandfather Through Mao, about the artists’ grandfather who was a hand laundry worker that helped started the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in 1937, one of the first immigrant labor organizations in the U.S.
