Master dissertation by Michiel Huygen

This thesis explores how archival photography can be mobilised as a historical source to analyse the working and living conditions of construction workers in post-war Belgium. Drawing on images from the AMSAB-ISG archive, it approaches the building site not merely as a space of production but as a visual and political field where visibility, regulation, and ideology intersect. The post-war period witnessed unprecedented state and union involvement in the construction sector, which included housing policy, safety legislation, and training initiatives, but at the same time, the material experiences of workers were often marked by contradiction and precarity. By reading photographs critically and contextually, this study tries to reveal the gap between official narratives and lived realities.

The analysis addresses this contradiction by touching on different themes: temporary worker housing, the implementation of safety measures, the industrialisation of labour, and the shifting visual representation of workers over time. These themes are approached through a visual methodology informed by theorists such as John Tagg, Gillian Rose, and Ariella Azoulay, who describe photographs not as transparent documents but as objects holding a deeper layer of undisclosed information, which are often embedded in institutional and ideological frameworks.

To conclude, this thesis also reflects critically on its own methodology. It positions itself as an experimental and exploratory exercise in photographic interpretation. By using photography as a tool, it opens up new possibilities for approaching photography and labour history. Ultimately, the argument that is put forward, is that even in its most mundane forms, construction photography offers a powerful lens through which we can interrogate politics, tensions of modernisation and the historical memory it leaves behind.