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Making Cents: Life Below the Bottom Rung
A series of oil paintings examining the daily existence of people making a living in the worst working
and living conditions in the global
economy.
Hommage à Haiti
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
When French commissioner Léger Felicité
Sonthonx arrived on the island [of Haiti] in 1791, he faced a
full scale rebellion by the white aristocracy and had to use an
army of local slaves to put them down. The leader of this army
would become one of the greatest generals in history. This
self-educated Haitian General’s name was Toussaint Louverture.
After putting down the landowners, Louverture liberated the
entire slave population. Louverture and the Black Jacobins
successfully defeated the French occupiers and Haiti became the
first free black nation in the world.
[from
France and the History of Haiti by Gearóid Ó Colmáin]
Diamond Panning
Sierra Leone
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
On 1 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted,
unanimously, a resolution on the role of diamonds in fuelling
conflict, breaking the link between the illicit transaction of
rough diamonds and armed conflict, as a contribution to
prevention and settlement of conflicts (A/RES/55/56). In taking
up this agenda item, the General Assembly recognized that
conflict diamonds are a crucial factor in prolonging brutal wars
in parts of Africa, and underscored that legitimate diamonds
contribute to prosperity and development elsewhere on the
continent.
http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html
Aerial
Bombardment
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
Protocol Additional to the
Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the
Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol
I), 8 June 1977
Art 51. - Protection of the civilian population
1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy
general protection against dangers arising from military
operations. To give effect to this protection, the following
rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of
international law, shall be observed in all circumstances. 2.
The civilian population as such, as well as individual
civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of
violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among
the civilian population are prohibited. 3. Civilians shall enjoy
the protection afforded by this section, unless and for such
time as they take a direct part in hostilities.
4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks
are: (a) those which are not directed at a specific military
objective; (b) those which employ a method or means of combat
which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
(c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects
of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and
consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike
military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without
distinction.
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/470-750065?OpenDocument
Interrogation
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
United Nations Convention Against Torture defines torture
as:
Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or
mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes
as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a
confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has
committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating
or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on
discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is
inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or
acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an
official capacity.
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
Aftermath of
Suicide Bomber,
Morgue in Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
A man looking for relatives at a morgue in Rawalpindi in
Pakistan after a suicide bombing in which at least 35 people
were killed and dozens more wounded in November 2009. Soldiers
and civilians had gathered outside a branch of the National Bank
of Pakistan to collect their monthly salaries and pension
payments when the bomb exploded.
Kibera, Nairobi,
Kenya
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
Kibera is the second
largest urban slum in Africa (after Soweto in South Africa) with
a population estimated at between 600,000 and 1.2 million
inhabitants. It is located in southwest Nairobi, about 5
kilometers from the city centre. Improving the situation for
the people who live there has been beset by problems such as
petty and serious crime, difficult vehicle access, and the lack
of building foundations as much of the ground is composed of
refuse and rubbish.
Favela, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
Many favelas in Rio de Janeiro are shanty towns built up the side
of hills with access only by stairs and narrow pathways. They
are affected by landslides in heavy rain and their inhabitants
regularly have to face the problems of drug wars and petty
crime. Many were constructed in the 1970s when a construction
boom attracted rural workers from poorer states in Brazil. It is
estimated that about 19 per cent of Rio de Janeiro’s population
is living in one of 600 favelas around the city.
Dharavi Slum, Mumbai
India
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
While Dharavi has been
featured in films such as Danny Boyle's 2008 film Slumdog
Millionaire, the difficulties such as sanitation issues, an
inadequate water supply, overcrowding and poverty faced by
people who live there are some of the worst in the world. It is
estimated that around 1 million people live in Dharavi making it
one of the largest slums in Asia.
Soldering Circuit
Boards
Toy factory Shantou, Guangdong, China
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm /
59.1 in x 59.1 in
Factory conditions in China have come under much criticism for
issues such as subsistence wages, long working days, seven day
weeks and illegal overtime hours. In some cases workers need
permission to leave the factory grounds and live in cramped
conditions sharing large dorms. Foreign investors, who have a
huge presence in China, often violate the most fundamental human
and worker rights. Opposition to such conditions can lead to
being fired, or even arrest and imprisonment.
Phone
Recycling
Mumbai, India
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1
in
In many slums around Mumbai
people worked in traditional industries such as pottery and
textiles. Now there is a growing recycling industry processing
waste from other parts of Mumbai. Many of these industries are
carried out in one-roomed factories manufacturing products that
are distributed globally. While there have been some projects
set up to improve living conditions, Dharavi remains a source of
cheap labor for local and foreign investors.
Rubbish Dump
Recycling
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1 in
It is believed that over 3000
scavengers live and work around the Stung Meanchey municipal
rubbish dump situated on the outskirts of Cambodia’s capital
city Phnom Penh. Many of the scavengers are children who have to
leave school to earn money for their families. They work up to
14 hours a day looking for glass, plastic, metal and any other
materials which can be recycled. Fumes from burning rubbish,
dirty needles, flies and truck accidents pose huge threats to
the safety and health of the workers there.
Ship
Dismantling
Alang Shipyard, India
Oil on canvas
150cm x 150cm / 59.1 in x 59.1 in
Many ships such as supertankers, car ferries and
container ships are dismantled on the beach at Alang in the
state of Gujarat, on the west coast of India. Thousands of
people work in this industry and millions of tons of steel and
other materials are recovered and then sold as scrap. However,
it is a very dangerous business and the process maims and kills
many workers each year and the shoreline is contaminated with
oily waste, asbestos, toxic paint and other toxic materials.
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