Ladder Work

 

Statement

In its physical form, a ladder is utilitarian and sturdy yet susceptible to great vulnerability. As a metaphor, it has become powerful in our culture’s obsession with status and upward mobility. ‘Social climbing’ and ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ point us to those above and those below us. It can be a self-inflicted reminder to what we are and are not, what we aspire to be, and where we fear to go.

We have created a system where “The American Dream” is not open to everyone. Where we are now experiencing the acute consequences of a society that both villainize the wealthy yet obsesses over it in the worship of celebrity, power, and possessions.