“Work will set you free”

For the purposes of this exhibition, the artist was exploring the working conditions in Macedonia, and collecting personal stories of workers whose rights have been violated. Long working hours, low wages, lack of regular contracts, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions especially in the textile and shoe production industry are regularly the case.

The testimonies that are being directly incorporated in the artworks are representing the unpleasant position in which the workers are. The works in this exhibition are product of a critical observation and social relations between the artist and various workers whose personal stories are conveying not just their intimate everyday struggles, but the complicated socio-political situation of the country as well.

The transitioning from a socialist system in Yugoslavia to another has affected the state and has led to massive layoffs, privatization and corruption, offering a fertile ground for current political manipulation and nationalistic ideologies.