islavery
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The following etching was thought up after a Sydney Democracy talk by Jack Linchuan Qiu - who is an advocate for Fairphone - that I went to in early 2017 at Sydney University of which I found about from a friend who works at the university and was MC for the evening. It was made known of the terrible work conditions and low pay which many thousands of Chinese workers had to deal with on assembly lines to make smartphones. Allusions were made to the shocking conditions of slave ships transporting African slaves to the New World over two hundred years ago. I was reminded of a book cover sitting at home (still waiting to be fully read mind you) which showed a diagram of the way slaves were packed into ships of which it was assumed many would die along the way before crossing the Atlantic. Thus I came up with the following etching which has used a generic internet image of workers on an assembly line helping to make smartphones and - after being manipulated by me including doing a symmetric/mirror image of the workers on the assembly line - does attempt to mirror diagram plans of how slaves were set out on slave ships.
It is hoped that working conditions and pay will eventually improve but it seems an abolition movement comparable to the one that ended the slave trade is needed in order to end modern slavery. It was also noted that such are the horrific work circumstances that some workers have even been compelled to commit suicide and there have been suicide nets put in place at high building workers dormitories.
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PLEASE PRESS ON IMAGE TAB TO SEE WHOLE IMAGE COME UP.
Thank You.
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29 cm X 17 cm. B&W. aquatint. zinc.
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It should be remarked that the image utilized a toner transfer technique whereby a photocopied collage was used whereby the photocopied image was transferred to a zinc etching plate using acetone ( in this case in nail polish remover). The laser toner worked as a blockout resist to the copper sulphate/table salt solution used to etch the zinc plate.
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A BLOODY DECADE OF THE IPHONE
Below is a relevant link to a CONVERSATION article by Jack Linchuan Qiu about the issue of smartphone manufacture in relation to labor rights ( as well as human rights. it should also be mentioned that the minerals used in smartphones like cobalt also involve having human beings - including children - working as/like slaves in Africa).
I am not sure if the link will work but perhaps if it doesn't ( along with other links) due to technical issues perhaps just copy and paste into a search engine bar. However, to see if it works:
1. mask the whole link.
2. Then press on the link after masking it and should then receive a pop up direction to go to the address.
Thank you for your understanding.
http://theconversation.com/a-bloody-decade-of-the-iphone-82974?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton
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FAIRPHONE website:
https://www.fairphone.com/en/
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Diagram of a slave ship
http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106661.html
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Hugh Thomas. Picador. 1997.
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A photo from the internet of smartphone assembly line workers in China of whichthe front row was utilized for the etching image. Unfortunately direct source is now lost but will be mentioned if discovered as I only came across it by doing a websearch. I think it was also on display at the original Sydney Democracy talk.
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