its subsequent decline. It's a story that transports you back over 100 years when jute was king and Dundee was its

Remarkable photography exhibition shows that nothing much has changed in the jute industry in 100 years

A photography exhibition documenting the harsh conditions of Indian jute workers and their links to Dundee’s jute industry opens this weekend at Verdant Works.

The exhibition by Nazes Afroz, a print and broadcast journalist from Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), will showcase unsparing black and white images alongside historical archives from Verdant Works’ own collection.

'The Jute Story: Connecting Kolkata and Dundee' shows how the mills and the production process of the industry in and around Kolkata look the same as they did in Dundee a hundred years ago. The exhibition of 40 photographs will also highlight the plights and agonies of the workers in Kolkata who have kept the industry going despite harsh and unhealthy working conditions.

Jute production began to move from Dundee to India, where the raw plant is grown, from around the 1860s in order to reduce costs. The industry in India is now in sharp decline and there are serious doubts about its future. Workers there are still using century-old machinery and technology imported from Dundee.

Nazes, who has been documenting current Indian jute mills and the lives of their workers for the past two years, will give a free talk on Saturday October 8th, 2016 at Verdant Works. The exhibition runs until January 15th, 2016.

The exhibition is the latest in a series of events to take place this coming year as Verdant Works celebrates its 20th birthday. The Verdant Works buildings date back to the mid-19th century and are now owned by Dundee Heritage Trust, which also operates RRS Discovery. The Trust opened the museum – with the public’s help – in September 1996 and completed the second phase a year later. Most of the items in the museum are donated by residents of Dundee, considered the home of the jute industry in Scotland.

Verdant Works, so-called because when it was built the area around it was green fields, once employed 500 people, making it the 16th biggest employer in Dundee’s jute industry at the time.

Louisa Attaheri, Curator with Dundee Heritage Trust, said:

“The message behind this exhibition is two-fold. Not only is it a slice of social history, it documents the fact that in many jute mills little has changed in the last 100 years in terms of workers’ conditions. That’s why we felt it was important to integrate our own archive photos with Nazes’ images. The result is stunning and a must-see for anyone with links to Dundee and the jute industry, or an interest in social history.”

For more information visit www.rrsdiscovery.com