Trade Show Side Show (2020, 10’h x 18’w wall installation, ink and powdered graphite on paper, 22 parts) is a collection of works that include images of a robot worker that presents a single plastic bottle of water, a stained stool, draped curtains, a uterus, pillows that seem to torpedo down from above, and the magnified structure of bone, alongside gestural abstractions made with graphite sludge and fleshy pink and red inks. This collection of images conjures a hybridized factory or hospital where the tissues of the body are pressed up against manufactured surfaces. A psychological dissonance seeps from these consumer belongings, while somatic and visceral gestures evoke the empathetic body.

Robots are slowly taking the place of some human workers, and many people that remain working in warehouses and factories have endured increasing injury as they are expected to maintain pace with robots as set by factory owners. Journalist Zoe Thomas of the BBC states, “For better or worse, robots are going to replace many humans in their jobs, analysts say, and the coronavirus outbreak is speeding up the process. Once a company has invested in replacing a worker with a robot it's unlikely the firm will ever rehire for that role. A 2017 report by global consultants McKinsey predicted a third of workers in the US would be replaced by automation and robots by 2030.” This artwork draws lines of complicity and relational connection between everyday utilitarian objects and the extractive and harmful systems that produce them.