This was one of the first socio-political pieces, created whilst at art college. It concerns how one is valued in society. The majority of people work a standard day and what they can accomplish in that time reflects their net worth to society. Using manual labour as a quantifiable, physical example of my net worth, I spent 8 hours digging and filling in a trench.
It was a live performance which took all day, recorded in photos. The piece works on many levels. You can see literally what I am worth to you if you were to hire me for a manual task. On another level it demonstrates the futility of most people’s daily lives. In the end nothing was accomplished. The trench was filled in. I didn’t get paid. It was the ultimate pointless exercise. The only accomplishment was through my sweat and blood and blistered hands I made myself an instrument of my work, suffering to highlight an issue. My first go at art activism.
What it did was change me. I realised, through doing the task, the drudgery most people’s lives. Read More Read Less