Visible Links

Description: Visible Links traces the origin of an ordinary place setting though photographs of the actual workers who are involved with the raw materials, manufacturing, distribution and transportation of those products: a plate, a wineglass, a napkin, and a set of flatware. In this way, names, faces and tasks are attached to objects we buy and services we use in our daily lives. Discovering and making visible the obscure links between the workers who are responsible for producing these consumer items reveals their humanity in our commodity-driven culture. After making phone and email contact, I obtained over 600 photographs by sending out single-use cameras to the people and companies I traced in the United States, Poland, Indonesia, South Africa, and the Caribbean. The installation of photographs was formatted into a large-scale poster and mailed back to all participating companies, unions, organizations and individuals.