Bridget Lai

Entropy

“Entropy” examines how labor under a capitalist economic framework is becoming increasingly invisible– in particular, how virtues such as cuteness and beauty play a role in obscuring capitalist systems. More than ever, these virtues blur the line between work and leisure– codifying and hiding labor to shield institutions that perpetuate it. My work depicts feminine subjects engaged in some form of labor, but in positions and clothing that look as though they are playing or at leisure. The settings of the pieces are photographically manipulated and skewed to resemble various institutions that loom over the subjects, the ominous forces that imply eventual collapse. The pieces depict a singular space in multiple frames collaged to expand and imagine the setting beyond reality.