"Work to Live..." is a one-minute video tape that uses the oral tradition to highlight three women's shared work experience in Canada and Jamaica. It was a commissioned video tape that was produced for the Toronto Mayworks Festival of Labour in 1993. The women's confessions take place off-camera and the camera focuses tightly on the women's hands performing repetitive tasks of food preparation. The endless grating of food is used as a metaphor for the ritual of all women's labour that so often goes unseen and underappreciated.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Donna James grew up in Nova Scotia and currently resides in Ottawa. Her first video, "Maigre Dog", is in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank, and The Alberta College of Art and Design. Her second video, "Whispers of Kisses", is in the permanent collection of the Canada Council Art Bank. "The Thickness of Guidance" is her fourth video.