To think of blue almonds

• Main Author: Goh, Sze Kei
• Other Authors: Ng Ee Ching Candice
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Visual arts and music::Drawing, design and illustration
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/158648
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The world revolves around work. We are primarily defined by our occupation, valued by the amount of work we contribute to society, and constantly trying to get more done every day. Advancements in automation and human productivity should easily reduce our working hours to only three or four hours a day, and yet our workloads and days have only gotten longer and larger, with overtime work even becoming a norm in most workplaces. Work is an integral part of life and there are many pleasures to be found in productive activity, but work has come to dominate our lives, and become a non-accomodating space towards the human need of spontaneity, autonomy and community. In today’s society, often the only way that people are able to meet their material and psychological needs is through work, but it is not an equal realm – while work is fair and engaging for some, for others, it is meaningless, boring and exhausting. Even our free time is in jeopardy – after a tiring day at the office, we have a limited amount of time and energy, which limits the scope of activities we can take part in. Additionally, today’s levels of connectivity create the pressure to be responsive and constantly available. With the shift towards a knowledge economy, there are now pressures to keep ourselves and our skill sets updated and relevant, and the moralisation of work has created a false dichotomy of work versus laziness, resulting in the value of non-work activities such as playing, talking, enjoying nature, and other leisurely activities, which are worthwhile ends in themselves, becoming increasingly devalued and neglected. Through documenting various experiences of work in the form of conversations and comics, To Think of Blue Almonds is a project that thus aims to challenge the work-centred nature of modern society, question the criteria that judges whether an activity is worthwhile and meaningful, and above all else, celebrate the refusal of work.