New Pharaohs – Totem

Description

Chris Shaw Hughes’ ‘New Pharaohs – Totem’ focuses on the Burj Tower in Dubai. As the tallest building in the world, the development of the tower bares many relations to the construction of the Pyramids at Giza, representative of a modern day monument to the Dubai Oligarchs in the desert. The Burj Tower is used by Chris to represent a more hidden type of trauma that exists on a social level within the tower’s poorly paid and socially excluded workforce. Chris’ work reminds us of how fragile our relationship to the world we inhabit can be. The drawings themselves are delicate interpretations of how the media and the public deal with conflict, and how these images shape our understanding of the landscape. In ‘New Pharaohs – Totem’, the conflict is below the surface; hidden in the social interactions that exist in the city. By representing the trauma of the labouring classes in both Dubai and ancient Egypt, Chris draws parallels through time and questions whether technological progress has affected behaviour towards the poorest members of society.