Artist Statement

Enough

Claire Gilchrist

My artwork is a painting of a child screaming, with her hands covering her ears, and brands that use child labor surrounding her. To make my art piece, I used red paint on a canvas, then used a black pen over it. It symbolizes the hardships of child labor and fast fashion. The children working in fast fashion are stuck in a cycle of poverty and are often forced to work in these factories in order to provide for themselves and their families. 

The message I am trying to send with my artwork is how horrible child labor is and how terribly it affects the children involved. The human right that my project is focusing on is number 23 - Workers' Rights. Through my artwork, I tried to show how sad the child is and the stress and weight that they carry on their shoulders at such a young age. Some of the most interesting research I found is that the ages of children working in sweatshops range from around 5-17. The conditions of working in the factories can be horrible, even toxic. The people working there (most often women and children) make around 3-53 cents per hour, constantly putting in more than 100 hours of work per week. Child labor is most common in Sub-Saharan Africa; almost one out of every five children is majorly affected by child labor.                                                                         

My goal is for my artwork to make people realize the pain and suffering behind the clothes they buy. However, I do understand the convenience of fast fashion: It's cheap, accessible, and sometimes the only option. I hope that people will do their part to stop this issue.