Having Doing Being Art

Altered found mirror, doll arms, padlock. Text is about garment workers pay scale. 17 x 11 x 1.75

This 3d art piece is simple, perhaps too simple for the complex issue of cheap labor.   It was created to help me understand my complicit role in 1,000+ lives lost in the April 2013 Bangladesh clothing factory fire & collapse.  For several weeks during April and May I  had dreams about being in a dusty/dirty warehouse full of both contemporary and antique fabrics.   In the dreams, I was with friends and family and we were moving through and breaking free of piles and piles dirty dusty textiles.  In my waking life I began to think about the way my own clothing was made and soon realized the dreams were my psyche tuning in to what was happening in my own closet and also a world far removed me.  As I folded laundry I read the labels and noted that much of my wardrobe was assembled in countries that are noted in my art piece.  Clothing made and inspected by apparel workers who worked a 12+ hour day for the wages to purchase a pound of rice.  Time for change.

The statistics I included in my art came from https://sites.google.com/site/antisweatshopleague/home  & Globalization of the Poor

RESOURCE INFORMATION FOR WHAT YOU CAN DO TO LEARN MORE:

http://www.laborrights.org/
http://www.iwj.org/
http://www.globallabourrights.org/
http://nmass.org/
http://www.stitchonline.org/
http://www.sweatfree.org/organizations#asia2
www.globalmon.org.hk

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I just learned that this art piece has earned an award for it’s public commentary.  I won the Peter Beals Sculpture award in the 2013 North River Arts Society Festival!