Ruby Neal
Coping with Capitalism.
The title Coping with Capitalism humorously suggests that a destructive, globally recognised system is something that can be experienced on an exclusively individual level.
I chose clothing as the form with which to explore this theme. Clothing can serve as a ‘walking billboard’ to advertise ourselves; our interests, music tastes and political opinions. I want to take advantage of this by employing T-shirts with replicable statements; I appropriate sayings from mass-produced T-shirts, replacing them with more political renditions. It is important to consider accessibility when choosing a medium, and mingling art objects with every day, useful items allows for this.
The question of access is also in the work as I want people to be able to participate easily in the art and politics of the project and, more selfishly, I want to create shared experiences through them. When they are worn these shirts are, to me, a form of micro protest wandering the streets. Today I wore my I Love the Library singlet, and the guy scanning my groceries at ALDI chuckled and said he liked my shirt, and that felt like something important to me,
My work aims to provide alternatives to capitalist structures on a personal level. I am interested in objectifying and subverting capitalism, and the process of hand-making imitations of designs from mass-made items feels like important commentary. I want my new statements to strike a balance between the humorous and the political; I am ‘taking the piss’ out of the generic T-shirt with their aversion to making political statements whilst simultaneously embodying those who intellectualise and therefore gate-keep political identities.
I Love the Library 1, 2020
Shirt, fabric paint
I Love the Library 2, 2020
Shirt, fabric paint
I Love the Library 3, 2020
Shirt, fabric paint
I Love the Library 4, 2020
Shirt, fabric paint
Bring Back Thinking, 2020
Shirt, fabric paint
I Went to Capitalism and all I Got was Poor, Oppressed, Offended, Pissed Off, A Job, 2020
Shirt, fabric paint
