“Factory 1.1/1.2” 2018 - 2019
This text relates to a group of works carried out during 2017 - 2019;during half of that period of time I worked in a distribution center in Pooler, Georgia. I got a job through a Mexican friend who I spend time with Sundays at the park; I told him that I was looking for another job after two years working in a retail store. He told me about this warehouse that was the distribution center for furniture and decorative objects. I got an interview a couple of weeks after I applied. The interviewer was Jason, who later became my supervisor for the night shift. I started working the following week.I trained for two weeks, learning how to use the equipment and how to be a good picker(someone who gathers items specified for a particular store). The area I was assigned was Break-Pack. In this area you were supposed to make 80 picks per hour in an 8-
hour shift, with two breaks of a half hour. After two weeks of Training and maybe one more month ,I became the best picker at the warehouse, doing around 120 picks per hour. I was working at the
warehouse for a year while I was a full time graduate student. I would like to make a distinction in this part of this text between the other employees of the warehouse and myself. The warehouse for most of the employees was the main source of income for their families. For me, though it was my main source of income, my main job was to be an artist.
My experience was different and similar at the same time. I felt really comfortable in that environment because other employees were also part of the so-called minority groups, it felt like being part of a big family. I am making work about this experience, because I believe that what I make as art consistently reflects where I am working or the situation in which I am living at the moment.
Working in the warehouse was treated as field work and made me think of ideas about labor that I hadn’t considered before.
It is important to note that I studied painting as an undergraduate and MA student before moving on to the Fibers department. One of the main ideas that I been exploring was the idea of success and failure. Other aspects of my work previously explored were the idea of anti-art, Dada and, post-Duchampian concepts.
In Fibers I observed different processes and attitudes towards making. Unlike in Painting, sampling was very common in fibers and so were highly time consuming processes. This also made me consider the idea of labor and how we could value art as labor.
This extended statement presents different texts and works that reflect the moment in which I worked at the warehouse. The work is divided in two groups: the first group Factory 1.1 was developed as my MAFinal Project in Painting, and Factory 1.2 is part of my M.F.A thesis work. The first group of works has both pictorial and sculptural elements, using objects and exploring materials of the warehouse. The second part is based on concepts of labor and the idea of the uniform as an object, which identifies me within a specific space.
As a worker and maker it is important to me that this work be an honest reflection of labor within my personal experience.
