Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Work.

Several times a week we get these little strips of paper in our mailbox. They are quite common in Cape Town. Sometimes neatly handwritten, sometimes typed or printed, they represent job applications.












 

I wish I could help each one.
(South Africa's unemployment rate currently stands at about 25% (official figure). The unofficial figure is closer to 40%. More than 40% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed. Each year hundreds of thousands of school leavers enter the job market, most with little chance of finding anything.)
  
























(Art journal pages started months ago and recently finished: job application strips, paint, cutouts from primary school textbook lesson about work, paper bag that contained two expensive croissants.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's so sad to me, really sad. I think you are making here a very strong visual social and human statement...it would be awesome to make a whole journal out of these or more and exhibit it somewhere for people to see..to bring awareness..
XOXOrly

Anonymous said...

If only the pampered, living on benefits, unemployed here could see the harsh reality of unemployment in other countries!

Leenie said...

We all wish there were SOME way to push over that first domino. The one which sets off the job market and the buying and selling. This stagnant economy is sending our planet to circling the drain. Your collage is a fitting way to keep us aware.

Linda Sue said...

I love your page- LOVE! I kiss it-
I don't want to work, I want to bang on the drum all day..