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Santiago Sierra — Hiring and arrangement of 30 workers in relation to their skin colour
Santiago Sierra

Hiring and arrangement of 30 workers in relation to their skin colour

A black and white photograph documents a clinical and confronting social experiment in which thirty workers are arranged and organized according to the gradations of their skin tone. Sierra's work exposes the brutal persistence of racial hierarchy and economic exploitation by treating human beings as raw material to be sorted and classified. The piece forces an uncomfortable reckoning with the ways in which skin colour continues to determine social value and labour conditions in contemporary society.

Medium
black and white photograph on Fujicolor Crystal archive paper

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Under the Influence

April 8, 2014

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About this work

Santiago Sierra, Hiring and arrangement of 30 workers in relation to their skin colour

A black and white photograph documents a clinical and confronting social experiment in which thirty workers are arranged and organized according to the gradations of their skin tone. Sierra's work exposes the brutal persistence of racial hierarchy and economic exploitation by treating human beings as raw material to be sorted and classified. The piece forces an uncomfortable reckoning with the ways in which skin colour continues to determine social value and labour conditions in contemporary society.

Medium
black and white photograph on Fujicolor Crystal archive paper
Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

Political, Conceptual, Documentary, Photograph, Social Commentary, Provocative, Human Figure, Spanish, Black and White, Contemporary

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