In Overtime, Karl Kessler and Sunshine Chen document the lives of men and women who practise vanishing trades, professions and cultural traditions in the cities and townships of Waterloo Region, Ontario.
When was the last time you visited a shoemaker? A watchmaker? A tailor? Have you met a sign painter, a typewriter mechanic or a shirt factory worker? Do camera stores and independent department stores still exist in this day and age? What exactly are the principal responsibilities of a town clock keeper?
As automation and modernization bring to the brink of extinction many twentieth-century ways of making a living, we find ourselves in danger of losing the accumulated skill of generations of Canadians. Through the compelling photographs and moving interviews in Overtime, Karl Kessler and Sunshine Chen give voice to fifty proud workers based in the heart of Southwestern Ontario, preserving their stories for generations to come.