The flags in the Sky Exchange series have been produced from 2020-present out of used and worn blue-collar work-wear. The abstract flags retain elements of the clothing from which they are sewn: openings in the form of former collars, pockets, pant legs, and sleeves sway in the wind and allow viewers to inhabit the artworks. In a gig economy in which working-class labor is alternately ignored, derided, and prized, these surfaces sewn from worker garments assert pride in our common industrial heritage.
I produced additional pieces from my original collection of used blue work garments in response to exhibition opportunities abroad, including smaller works on canvas stretchers (Blue Collar) and free-hanging flags featured during Portland’s Textile Month in 2021.
All of the pieces, including various surfaces, sculptures, and site-specific installations, are sewn from recycled worker’s blue overalls, jackets, pants, and work suits. The Sky Exchange flags (38” x 74” with metal grommets) function as unstable surfaces with openings in the form of former collars, pockets, pant legs, and sleeves that enable individual works to interact among themselves and with users in new and innovative ways. Stains, holes, and evidence of mending and repair mingle with buttons, standardized logos and neatly hemmed sleeves and pant legs.
The works can be hung from flag poles, on the wall with minimal hardware, between posts, on chain-link fences or from the ceiling/rafters with ropes/ hooks. They are durable and highly adaptable and can be shown indoors or out (wear that appears on the surfaces during exhibition becomes part of the pieces over time). One flag or several can be shown at a time, and if the works are presented at the physical height of viewers, members of the public can also “try on” elements of the flags (in a manner inspired by Hélio Oiticica’s Parangolés) by slipping arms, legs, and heads through various “openings.”
In a social and political context characterized by changing norms of employment (the rise of outsourcing, temping, and gig workers, the disappearance of long-term contracts and government sector jobs, etc…) and the specific realities of labor revealed by the pandemic, my artwork asks us to reimagine the past, present, and future of work.
Sky Exchange 1-5, 39″ x 75,” 2020-present, sewn used workwear textiles.