As an artist and a worker I hold a strong skepticism towards our relationship to work. Growing up and still maintaining a strong work ethic I question why we adhere to such work values. In physics work is defined as force multiplied by distance, an equation that is far from how we have come to know work on a daily basis. When earning long-stagnated wages, not accumulating capital, is the primary concern for workers, it is difficult to imagine a life not centered around work.
Material list includes: cloth, collectivity, endurance, indebtedness, language, movement, productivity, reciprocity, text, time, video, voice, weight, wait
Through these gathered materials I critique work’s centrality. My installations give notice. Notice to: our devotion to hard work, our adherence to a system of perpetual debt, art’s manufactured divide from work, and the necessity for collectivism.
Elizabeth Shoby is currently based in the Bronx, New York. Recent awards include Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Stuart Thomson Fellowship and publication of her “Take Notice” essay in “We Are Here” collaborative print project at Third Room Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
