Visual Discourse:
This assessment piece was to create a visual discourse that focuses on a topic that is current in today's society. A visual discourse is basically the result of an artist displaying their way in a way that uses the elements from a book; chapters, pages, text etc. My group members and I decided to focus on the topic of sweatshops, particularly the mistreatment of children and older workers in the typically poor conditions of their workplace.
To create a visual discourse showcasing this topic, we decided to produce a quilt-looking fabric that tells the story of sweatshop employees through the quilt's hexagon pattern. To bring this visual discourse to life, the idea of displaying the quilt on a rusty, battered old singer sewing machine became a way to create attention to viewers of the exhibition and ground our whole focus point effectively.
My major task to complete this visual discourse was to collect materials and build the sewing machine in a way that would represent the mistreatment of sweatshop workers. Instead of purchasing a fully functioning sewing machine, I turned to community social media pages to search for a sewing machine that would be cost efficient for the group and be in a poorer condition than a working machine. I successfully collected two donated pieces including a Singer sewing machine stand and Singer sewing machine part. They were perfectly weathered from being in gardens and are pieces from sewing machines that are actually used in sweatshops.
The next step to create this sewing machine was to collect appropriate wood that would be strong enough to support such a heavy machine. I chose a thick piece of hardwood that was then measured to both fits onto the stand and hold the machine in the middle of the table top. Original singers have a normal table top that has the sewing machine part built into it underneath, thus transforming the table into a sewing machine with the ease of uncovering the middle part of the wood on the table top. However, because we needed to construct it ourselves, we opted to use a jigsaw and cut out a hole. This would allow both the sewing machine's parts that usually connect to the stand hang from the object without hurting the wood and sit the rest of the machine on the table to help it look like a functioning sewing machine.
A dark timber stain and distressing of the wood using pizza cutters and a mallet created a damaged look that not only complements the original singer parts but reflects the pain and mistreatment of sweatshop workers. Stories of workers being whipped and beaten to continue working at a fast pace inspired these markings on the wood and dark oil pastels highlighted the deep grooves created in the wood.
Once we professionally printed our quilt design onto fabric, we assembled the visual discourse ready for exhibition. there a photos below of our finished product, as well as the process of collecting the materials and creating the sewing machine:
