Work, Identity and Self
Following on from my undergraduate studies I continued to think about ideas surrounding the loss of identity. I began to consider my own position in life, going from always having a purpose and path to having to rely purely on self-motivation in order to start my career. I began working in a retail shop and after a few months of wearing the wrong name badge and an “in training” sign, I began to feel my own loss of identity. I had become another cog in the wheel of consumerism. The company I worked for was big, rich and its employees clearly expendable.
From these thoughts, feeling and much research I began a series of portraits based on the loss of identity in a work dominated world. The most successful image I felt being a self-portrait in my retail work uniform. I deliberately depicted myself in muted grey tones in order to reinforce the way in which the harsh unnatural lighting in my windowless work establishment drained the colour from my skin. The unnatural lighting acting as a metaphor for the unnatural way in which the management of the company wanted us to portray ourselves. As robots, all the same, with a single identity that they had manufactured for us with their own unrealistic ideals. In the image I am wearing a badge, it doesn't reveal my name but instead displays the phrase “in training”. By displaying the badge I am enforcing the way in which these industries take away their workers names, personalities, and identities. It also acts as a metaphor for the fact that when you leave education and enter the world, you are in a way “in training” for real life. In our modern society are we all becoming too engulfed in our careers/work and are we as customers starting to forget to look past the company and see the workers. Is work becoming the main focus of our identities?
From these thoughts, feeling and much research I began a series of portraits based on the loss of identity in a work dominated world. The most successful image I felt being a self-portrait in my retail work uniform. I deliberately depicted myself in muted grey tones in order to reinforce the way in which the harsh unnatural lighting in my windowless work establishment drained the colour from my skin. The unnatural lighting acting as a metaphor for the unnatural way in which the management of the company wanted us to portray ourselves. As robots, all the same, with a single identity that they had manufactured for us with their own unrealistic ideals. In the image I am wearing a badge, it doesn't reveal my name but instead displays the phrase “in training”. By displaying the badge I am enforcing the way in which these industries take away their workers names, personalities, and identities. It also acts as a metaphor for the fact that when you leave education and enter the world, you are in a way “in training” for real life. In our modern society are we all becoming too engulfed in our careers/work and are we as customers starting to forget to look past the company and see the workers. Is work becoming the main focus of our identities?
"The Graduate"
Oil on Canvas
