1. 'Gumball machine'
Colouring pencils on paper
16 x 20 inches
2008
What if our souls, at conception, were distributed to the world in the same random fashion as gumballs? This thought makes me grateful for everyday boons. Imagine that you had that unbiased chance of being an emaciated kid in a war-trodden country, or a listless cashier behind the countertop, or even a wealthy orphan. Realizing the randomness of it all makes it seem natural to believe that life offers a bounty of opportunities to attain self-actualization. The idea is not merely abstract, not an everyday reminder that augments false hope. It becomes fact. Just as the gumballs ‘wait,’ we must persevere, and when confronted with obstacles, remain resilient. Looking at it this way, I come to the conclusion that I have it ‘better off’ than many. We all have our blessings, and our crosses to bear. A person chooses to be happy; the situation is irrelevant.
2. 'Slave Trade'
Acrylic on canvas
16.5 x 20 inches
2009
The gumball machine is a metaphor for the triangular slave trade. The give-and-take relationship is not the only similarity. There is also the effort made to display the tightly packed human cargo in the most appealing and attractive manner; there is also the prepaid assurance that the product will be released in a way that will entertain the consumer. From the perspective of the buyer and seller, consumer satisfaction is the end-all and be-all. The rounded plumpness of their bodily proportions represents this aspect of trading, even in human commodity. Moreover, it epitomizes the moral constrictions of the dealers. From the slave’s perspective, their ballooned proportions represent a physiological and emotional dilation, a potential for human violence due to injustice. Although the overall appearance of the subjects may look the same, their intentions and emotions have different trajectories.
3. 'The Business Man'
Inkjet print on paper
8.5 x 11 inches
2009
This Venn diagram is a sad portrayal of the dehumanization of man, which can be paralleled with a gumball machine: utilitarian object. Both hauntingly echo the degree of dissociation we have acquired towards a typical scene of mechanization in the modern world. We are desensitized to the extent that the space between us and the man is almost tangible, whereas the expanse of space within him becomes indistinguishable. The introvert emanates an ambiance of static depression; his hunched back relays weariness; his eyes are brimming with apathy, while his stationary posture mutely cries for an asylum from his worldly troubles. And he himself grants it. The viewer realizes that the subject is only alive because he breathes, and that he has negated his purpose by retreating into a world of fragile illusion to seek security and meaning. He is a mere silhouette merging into the background.
