Whistle While you Work
Whistle While you Work
Whistle While you Work is an exhibition that creates a narrative around what modern labor often looks like and questions what day to day labor could be. Greatly influenced by anthropologist, professor, and writer David Graeber, this artwork joins the criticism that many modern white collar jobs are unnecessary, do not actively participate in the betterment of society and are at times actively pernicious. The characters within this body of work are bored and exhausted, daydreaming of life outside the cubicle. With little time left off the clock, this malaise seeps into day to day life outside of the office. Wanting to imagine a future different from this, Whistle While you Work seeks to create a dialogue around the potential for work that differs from the isolation and individualism of most contemporary American labor and instead seeks to eliminate the scarcity mindset by building community and support networks.
My work encompasses an interest in labor, boredom, and exhaustion. Simultaneously I’m exploring what relief from these things look like. Escapism acts as the core of my work- what escapism looks like as well as what creates the need for escapism. I create work on paper that is always slightly removed from reality, embracing flatness and stylization. Drawing influence from set design, I create mundane scenes composed of the minutiae of everyday life alongside elements of magical realism. This work creates a conversation around present-day dystopias as well as an exploration of what utopia could look like.