ARTIST: FARIDA BHAGOO
COUNTRY: ZAMBIA
MATERIALS USED: ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR
ARTIST STATEMENT
‘CHUNGA’
While in quarantine many thoughts and feeling have come to me, but one is technology and the world of technology, we live in. The inspiration for the digital artwork created comes from the shift to online learning. While it has been easy for some many countries in southern Africa have struggled with this switch, due to the digital divide created by mass inequalities.
This monster reflects who we are and the technology obsessed world we find ourselves in, or rather the one we have created. It speaks to our lack of humanity and our greed. This monster is us; we are the monster. In addition, this artwork confronts the endemic inequality and social alienation, as well as the global circulation of electronic waste caused by the dystopia of consumer culture.
While this quarantine has forced excessive consumption of electronic equipment’s in order to continue our daily activities as well as engage with everything outside the confinement of our homes, do we care to think about the consequences of the electronic waste. Where will it end up and who does it affect? I think about how African countries are a hub for electronic waste, a dumping ground for used electronics. Electronic devices sent to our boarders as a helping hand, marketed in a way to provide used electronics for those who cannot afforded firsthand electronic Equipements. During times like this we realize it was never a helping hand as majority still struggle to access electronic devises.
While many continue to progress and advance through technology the majority are caught up in the chaos bought by the technological divide. The rapid consumption of devices to fill the void has consequence on our environment. This artwork is created to reflect on how technology brings order to a minority while the majority struggles with the transition that was never catered for them. This monster is part of an ongoing series I am working on. The series of monsters that revisit the spaces of their imagined past, critiquing the consumer driven currents.
