Acts of Frustration

Artist Statement

Acts of Frustration

Katelyn

My piece is about child labor. I painted a canvas to show the silhouette of a boy holding a box over his head. I used black paint for the boy, and I painted everything else white. Around the boy, I glued labels of companies that use child labor to produce their goods.

I chose child labor because I was shocked that so much of what we buy and wear in the US and other wealthy countries is made by children. These clothes are made by children who are forced to work in bad conditions. I was surprised to find out how many children work and how poor they are. How can children live like this? They get no food, water that is not clean and is not good for them. They could easily die because they don’t have anything in their body.

With my piece I want to send the message that children are being hurt by child labor, and that needs to stop. In my opinion it is not fair that these children are getting sick from being forced to work where the conditions aren’t safe for them. A lot of the child labor in the world happens in and around China. A lot of what we buy in the United States is made in China. We need the whole world to help. We need to demand change and raise awareness. Kids who normally go to school can’t go anymore because their parents don’t have any money and they are forced to send the kids to work.

My researched inspired me to get the word out about child labor because so many stores use child labor to make a profit. Before this project, I didn’t know this, and people who are buying products probably don’t know that they may made by children. I think that people around the world should see what is happening and help stop this. A lot of people would have to help, but if people see what these children look like they will feel bad. I think people should see what is happening to so many children around the world. 100million.org is a website where people can show their support for fighting child labor.