Margaret Griffin

 

My work considers the relationship between industry and the physical demands of its laborers. Inspired by my father’s profession as a pipefitter and my own work within foundries and an iron factory, I bring attention to this area of the workforce and the protective ware required to subsist within it. These 30 pieces, each entitled “Handler,” are aluminum castings taken from the molds of deconstructed leather work gloves. Though utilized in other spaces, these gloves are commonly coded to the bodily risk-proposing processes of labor that blue-collar workers perform. The deconstruction and manipulation of these gloves offer up a reflection of our physicality—malleable and subject to injury; casting them in aluminum causes each piece to become a permanent consolidation between their protective qualities and the vulnerable nature of those who wear them. 

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1. Handler
2. Handler
3. Handler
4. Handler
5. Handler
6. Handler
7. Handler
8. Handler
9. Handler
10. Handler
11. Handler
12. Handler
13. Handler
14. Handler
15. Handler
16. Handler
17. Handler
18. Handler
19. Handler
20. Handler
21. Handler
22. Handler
23. Handler
24. Handler
25. Handler
26. Handler
27. Handler
28. Handler
29. Handler
30. Handler