Export Quality (Value Studies: Uniforms).
2023
Machine embroidered piña cloth, white sand, sugar, pearls, and human teeth.
Value Studies is a series of works looking at the entanglements of globalized economies, racial capitalism, post-colonial statecraft, and the curation of cultural value, through the lens of Filipino transnational identity. Export Quality (Value Studies: Uniforms) traces the connections between Spanish colonial era exports, national identity, and modern labor exploitation of overseas contract workers.
Overseas contract workers (OCWs), also known as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), are Philippine nationals who work abroad, under contract, for a set period. The Philippines has one of the largest populations of OCWs—a largely unseen labor force throughout the world.