Marxy Marx

Because Estranged Labour is referencing a hierarchy and the nature of the individuals at the bottom, I think it parallels a lot of students experience within the academic environment. And the fact that it deals with the act of making makes it that much more apropos to studio art majors.... which is probably why Michael assigned it. I think it gets to be pretty difficult to be creative and expressive within a system where you become, to an extent, detached from the work. The work becomes for a class, or a teacher, or deadline, and the process becomes forced and really unnatural because at some point you just dont feel like doing it. I think the importance of the essay is a testament to just how serious this issue is as an art major, and how utterly necessary it is to always be able to find yourself within the work you make and within the labour of making. Beyond art majors at a college though, I think it generally takes a serious effort to remind yourself of why you make art and continually recognize that relationship so that you don't become entirely estranged. Yeah, there's too many estranged artworks out there as it is.