Whilst thinking about the barriers to employment that I have faced, that I currently face, many words came to mind. Gender, ethnicity, education, gatekeepers, experience or lack thereof… all of them whilst probably legitimate felt somewhat hollow. The two words that I couldn’t shake off, that feel intangible, invisible, and heavy are; capitalism and depression. I tried and failed at deconstructing what these words and more importantly their intersections mean to me visually.
Instead, I share with you barriers as what barriers feel like, neat, weighted, throne-like and embellished with the disposable. Their darkness is broken through by small movements, the strength of which is grounded in community. Till roles are as replaceable as we are in the grand machine of work, I laid four of these out for the family I live with to finger paint onto, our marks as humans will always disrupt the lines.
How we hold each other and ourselves through the waves is as innate as it is infinite, what came to surface in the stillness will also wash upon the shore someday. When the city stopped I could remember a different home more clearly and I could grieve, albeit quietly, separately but not alone.
Who do I encounter when I enter the digital space? How much power do I really have here? What versions of myself are reflected back to me? Which of the demons have been created from and out of myself? If I set them free, how long would they haunt me? Why does it feel so cold, so sweet, so vast? Where else can we go?
