Created in 2020. Installed again in 2022 for University of Iowa’s Intermedia Open House.

This work encourages viewers to see their bodies as a mechanism for commodified labor under capitalism. When viewed via a mirror’s reflection, the small sign hung on the wall reads “we are a commodity,” and the act of uncovering the correct reading via interaction with a mirror is meant to simulate a realization of what our bodies mean in relation to a system of exploitation. A “waking up.”

The white, collared shirt with a cyanotype print on the back of it rest opposite the wall where that sign is hung. The print on the shirt is the jarring headline from a 2020 New York Times paper: “U.S. Surpasses 500,000 deaths, a Staggering Loss.” The intent of this cyanotype shirt is to symbolize the unnecessary loss of life that ultimately falls on the back of the elite, the bourgeoisie, who grew richer as the poor turned poorer during the pandemic and for the majority of America’s existence. Viewers are encouraged to stand in between the walls, facing the one where the shirt is hung, while holding up the mirror to see the sign behind them. 

The phrase “We’re all in this together” was introduced by large corporations and celebrities in the first months of the pandemic, but quickly became a campaign of optics. I left out “all” from the banner to symbolize the class divide; the proletariat versus the bourgeoisie. The banner is made from found material, including bandanas, a mark of blue collar labor, and spray paint, an homage to graffiti, which was often intertwined with the heated protests of 2020.