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Change Your Life Here / Nobody Any Income

(2005)

Embroidered fabric. Diptych. Each 60cm x 60cm.

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In 2005, I was on an artist residency at the Sharjah Art Foundation in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. During that time, I took two photographs that seemed to carry a certain truth about the region. One showed a television screen displaying the slogan for the UAE National Lottery: “Change Your Life Here.” The other captured graffiti on the fence of a construction site reading: “Nobody Any Income.”

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The two statements felt connected. Many migrant workers come to the Gulf hoping to change their lives and support their families back home. The promise is real. So is the disappointment.

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One evening in downtown Sharjah, I came across a small embroidery workshop. A man named Ali was sitting on the floor stitching intricate patterns onto shawls. I asked if he would embroider the two slogans for me. He agreed, and we began a collaboration. The result is this diptych.

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I later portrayed Ali, the embroyderer in the work Ideal Lad.

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