AESTHETICS OF LABOR SERIES

Archival digital prints

2007

AESTHETICS OF LABOR SERIES consists of archival digital prints that are created by utilizing archival photographs and conflating them into Hawaiian quilt patterns. It is through this process that I am attempting to formally and conceptually re-present the history of plantation contract labor with the history of the Hawaiian quilt: as visually representing the history of Hawaii and its people. During the 19th century, Native Hawaiians were taught the craft of quilting from European missionaries. The Hawaiians adapted this quilting technique to their own liking, resulting in snowflake-like idealized representations of local flora and fauna patterns, and were devoid of political or historical content. The existence of plantation labor in Hawaii (which led to the economic development of the state) is a result of colonial power structures that helped to create the idea of progress and perfectibility over non-western objects and peoples.