For this unit in art we had to explore an issue we wanted to spread awareness about and create a piece showing adaptation, ingenuity and progress of the issue or the solution to the issue. I created a three piece series titled "Tyd" to spread awareness about child labour and robotization through the use photography and digital editing software as well as show personal connections in displaced settings. In the series I use photographer Lewis Hines photographs of child labour who's work inspired me to create these pieces.

 

Through my acquired knowledge from researching Lewis Hine and child labour I was able to make artistic choices to highlight these issues. I did this by placing something personal to me in a displaced setting. By doing this, I was able to show the audience how times have not changed as much as we may believe since the 1900’s as many of the same problems we faced back in history are still ongoing and relevant today. I also included the problem of robotisation as it is very relevant and some say may cause an increase in child labour.

 

The series that I created is supposed to challenge the audience's ideas, thoughts and beliefs about child labour and its causes. I did this by using Lewis Hines original images of child labour and inserting my pictures of my grandmother as a child and young women into the pictures. Additionally I called attention to the rising problem of robotisation as many people fear it may cause a rise in child labour. Through this piece I wanted to show the audience the importance of being aware of these problems and their causes as many people may grow up in an environment where they have worked since their childhood and because they were replaced by machine feel it is socially acceptable to send their children to work as well.

 

My artistic response for this unit was photographs and use of Photoshop. This pushed me outside of my comfort zone as I had never used Photoshop to retouch before, but through the unit I was able to develop my skills quickly and create my final piece. The series “Tyd” impacts the world as it creates awareness of a problem we like to believe only existed in the early 1900’s; child labour.

 

We often believe that it does not exist in our present day society, however we are wrong. Over 150 million children worldwide are engaged in child labour according to UNICEF, making us question our previous beliefs that this problem no longer exists. Not only does this problem exist, it is feared to be on the rise with the recent implementation of robotisation. With each new robot placed into the industry between 3-5.6 jobs are lost according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. The loss of jobs can cause unemployment rates to increase and  force families to find ways to earn an income, sometimes meaning sending their kids to work.

 

The pieces not only shows child labour and robotisation, but also the time passing in a woman's life from childhood to adulthood. The significant loss that children engaged in child labour have is not having a childhood and only having a work career. I wanted to highlight this by showing the progression of the women's life. Child labour and its causes are often not talked about, but is a significant problem that people need to be made aware of.

The series I created entitled “Tyd” shows the journey of a womans who is engaged in child labour. The pieces show her as a child, adult and the her replacement; a robot. The audience is meant to question the piece asking things like how have we changed as a society? Do we still have face and struggle with the same problems we had in the early 1900’s? Will we resort to our own ways or will we pave a new path for the future? These questions force people to become more aware of problems we might not hear about as much such as child labour and robotisation even though it affects our world significantly. After people walk away from my piece I would like them to question what they have done in their lives to make people more aware of an issue they feel strongly about and if they can make a personal connection to the issue like I have attempted through this series.

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Below is a gallery of photographs showing the journey I went through creating this piece.