Globally, women would have earned $10.9 trillion in 2019—had they been paid minimum wage for housework. No amount of zeros or embroidered stools can ever represent the scale of women’s unpaid, unseen, work. Scale, as in the degree of effort, the commitment of time, the sacrifice of energy, the list continues. This embroidered stool top reads 10,900,000,000,000, with the zeros spilling over the side of the top. This not only shows the massive figure representing the massive amount of work exercised by women, but the significance of a stool is that it is used as a place of rest. When this stool is being used, the daunting figure is covered, but returning to work reveals—once more—the top of the stool and the reality it communicates.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Skylar Cheung is a Toronto-based visual artist who works in the mediums of yarn embroidery and oil painting. She strives to call attention to underrepresented subjects such as immigrant women and wildlife habitats through her art. Her work is inspired by the activism undertaken by her mother in support of the Scarborough RT. Skylar’s work has been shown in juried art shows such as Workman Arts’ Being Scene and at venues like the Ada Slaight Gallery in OCAD.
https://skylarcheung.com/
Skylar Cheung
31 Jul 2021
Title: Ten Trillion
Artist: Skylar Cheung