Project Description

Work has become our way of identifying others and their function of society, as well as creating an identity for ourselves. Even though most of us work for other people, we work hard to be good at our jobs, to create an identity of ourselves that we can be satisfied with when others look at us, or when we look in the mirror. It becomes increasingly difficult to step away from work, because it also means stepping away from ourselves.

The pressure to work hard and be happy doing it brings an enormous existential weight to normal people who cannot possibly be happy all the time. The result becomes the individuals work harder, finding their happiness failing them, and they lose sight of the need to take time for the simple luxuries of being alive. I began to encourage my friends, who I saw similarly drowning in the pressures of work, to escape from the pressures of responsibility, to stop and smell the flowers, and simply allow themselves to not work.

Here are individuals. Not "engineers" or "executive assistants" or "consultants". I do not show their struggles, I show their escape.. from our work, from ourselves. These photos capture us when we "should" be working -- but are not.