Chloe Harris: Inside Out #1 A Trip Up The Amazon
My name is Chloe Harris and I am a UK based artist whose work looks at cityscapes. Recently I moved to Leeds and have experienced the Lockdown as an artist working behind the frontline at Amazon. During my time here I have started developing a series of prints based on the busyness of my daily life with Amazon in contrast to that of my locked down experience as an artist.
During the lockdown Amazon had to respond to a massive increase in demand for orders. The nature of the Amazon service and its warehouses is one of rationalisation, organisation and streamlining of systems. This functionality is brought out in the work that I have been producing in its cubist lines and elementary composition. These works are a documentation of my employment during this time of heightened activity and the affection that I hold for the place and my colleagues.
Abstraction exerts a strong influence over this series in a similar style as that of my Exeter Print Series 2020
The process of mark making in these works is fast and with as little hesitation as possible, imitating the activation that we experience at the warehouse when a lorry delivery arrives. As workers we are expected to process about 80,000 parcels a shift, and 160,000 over the course of twenty-four hours. Amazon has said it intends to create a further 7000 jobs this year to meet demand, the new staff enabling it to expand delivery capacity 160%.
I was one of these people, we are the bloodlines of the economy.
You can find out more about Chloe Harris at https://www.basementartsproject.com/chloe-harris