I believe that one human mind is equivalent to all of them. A single human being is the reflection of all the humans of his time, because all over the world, most people are conditioned in similar ways. If I were to give an example of this, I’d present a common set of beliefs about work.
Typically, we are taught a mindset of scarcity, while growing up. We are taught that to get anything in the world, we need to work hard, or else we are not worthy of anything. While it is true that we need to work in order to survive, it is also true that the mind of a child easily adapts to such beliefs and stores the essence of how it feels, into the subconscious. A certain fear is created in a child’s fragile cognition; and as he grows older, the child starts to base his worth off of these rules, which later turns into solid beliefs. As a direct result, most adults never get over this conditioning, and it turns into a toxic cycle of working till they die. They think they always have to be doing something, and like this, resting and enjoying life becomes a guilty pleasure.
However, in the end, we all are only human, and we all get tired of life. While people may have this conditioning, they dislike how this world has to be. Slowly, steadily, people start hating life, and eventually indulge in the art of self-pity, out of frustration.
This is a concept you do not see much in the world of art, but I would like to present to you, an outstanding artist known as Khalil Chishtee, who openly creates such complex art. This is also the subject matter of his piece, called “Men at Work”.
This show-stopping art work is made of black trash bags. What one would notice at first glance is an eye with a tie on it; but in fact, the tie is actually a tear drop. There is a certain eeriness to the eye, if you stare at it: it looks tired, lifeless and very hollow. It is a bold choice to create an eye and call it art, as art is as cryptic and ambiguous as the orb itself. It is said that an eye is the gateway to the soul, so if we relate a soul to the subject matter itself, we are branding the notion of self-pity on it.
Moreover, it is a very sad thing, that even the tear coming out of the man’s soul is not a tear itself, but a tie that clearly is a symbol of work. The conditioning that I talked of before, is imprinted so deep that even the act of weeping – which is an expression of pure emotion – is stained.
An important point to be noted here is that it is not the work that gives them this self-inflicted pain, but their perception of it. One may criticize these busy men, or sympathize with them, but the fact of the matter remains intact. More than their actual labor, their effort is wasted on feeding their demons. They dislike doing what they do, but they do not take the steps to improve their conditions, which is in the end, on them. The beautiful mess behind the eye can be seen as either the complexity and distortedness of these dark emotions, or as actual literal tiny men – or both. It is like these miniature people are working hard into constructing a web of deception.
Another way to see this artwork is, that if you zoom out the lens of eyes, you can picture this black mess as something akin to a face. This gives a more haunting vibe to the piece, because more than an eye, a dead face looks more lifeless. Looking at it in this way, you can almost feel the agony of these men.
Finally, something very unique about this piece is that it is made out of black trash bags. Black trash bags are, for anyone who is unaware, used to dispose of non-recyclable trash. They also are used because they are opaque and can easily hide the contents in it. Applying this knowledge to this art can symbolize how these emotions do not lead you anywhere; they cannot be recycled or used. In addition, these emotions can very well be hidden behind the suited curtains of professionalism.
