Reflection

I was inspired by a painting I once saw by a Japanese artist that depicted piles of garbage, which, when you looked closer at them, were made up of corpses of workers that had overworked themselves to death. It was a statement about Japan's work culture that expects workers to work overtime to the point of overworking themselves, and how their deaths remain ignored since they are viewed as nothing but garbage. I painted towers of people trying to climb up to the surface of the water. Those who are above the surface, whether they were born there or climbed there, have the greatest power. The majority of the people that are stuck at the bottom are minorities, and their environment is controlled by the people on top. This symbolizes the power that big corporate companies or rich organizations have over people in poverty. They can throw trash down or push other people down, leading them to fall down among other struggling people. The people at the ocean floor are most affected by environmental damage compared to the higher class, and it is basically impossible for those people to become rich and climb out. As the water rises, the chances of making it out from the bottom become harder and harder.