Paper Topic:

Work and the City

Work and the City

In the Allegory of California ' and Construction , both artworks both graphically symbolized the condition of workers in the industrialized period but situated in two different locations , a rural place in a powerful first world country and a city at a developing nation . Mexican painter Diego Rivera 's mural represented the California landscape in which illustrated a workplace that connected the agricultural side with the advancements of technology . Rivera made a positive view of the hybridization of the mechanical and the organic of culture and nature (Sackman 3

. Meanwhile , Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado 's photograph depicted a seemingly captured moment of a construction worker gazing at the beauty of the city at the expense of his own safety by merely hanging on unstable bars of steels without any safety precautions . According to Salgado , photography is the simultaneous recognition , in a fraction of a second , of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression (cited in Ritchin , The Lyric Documentarian

Rivera showed the condition of workers during the 1930s while Salgado displayed the status of workers in the 1990s . The Allegory of California ' manifested the several types of work that were prevalent during that time . It showed farmers farming their crops , miners mining for gold , engineers creating new technologies and scientists conducting studies . The only endangerment that was demonstrated was the effects of technological advancements to nature and human workforce . The rise of the machines can destroy the beauty and richness of the beauty of nature and it can also replace the capabilities of human in terms of providing essential products and services . On the other hand , the Construction by Salgado showed a more evident form of danger for a worker . Thy physical aspect of the work environment illustrated the work hazard of the place because of the absence of precautionary safety elements such as safety harness , protective clothing , warning signs and others . More so , the hanging position of the worker indicated the possibility or the imminent threat of falling hundreds of feet to the ground . This construction site at Rasuna complex of apartment and office buildings in the commercial and financial district of Kuningan in Indonesia showed the neglect of most employers over the safety of their workers

The mural of Allegory of California ' was created by Rivera to remind the upper class that the resources that they have consumed and enjoyed were products of hard arduous labor of farmers and workers Rivera 's representation of the workforce emphasized their importance in the development of a society . However , through the combination of the the labor of workers , the power of technology and , ultimately , the fertility of the earth ' the condition of social inequality is upheld and the commoditization of resources is actuated (Sackman 10 . The images represented a stratified society wherein workers are at the bottom or middle level of the pyramid who do all the laborious works in to provide for...

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