We don’t often stop and think about the people behind outsourced production. Lorena Turner’s Made in China project provides visual evidence that actual human beings construct and handle each plastic knickknack we buy. Purchased in US department stores and bodegas, these rubrics cubes, light bulbs, and sandwich holders were carefully removed from their packaging, dusted for fingerprints and photographed under a black light, revealing fingerprints and smudges. “Made in China is not intended to comment on the scale or absurdity of our consumptive practices, but to remind us that we are only one factor in that equation,” she writes. Click through to see “the human factor” of outsourced production in our gallery.
Lorena Turner, Rubik’s Cubes, 2008
Lorena Turner, Light Bulbs, 2010
Lorena Turner, Needles, 2010
Lorena Turner, Calculator, 2008
Lorena Turner, Christmas Ornament Packaging, 2008
Lorena Turner, Ball with Puerto Rican Flag, 2008
Lorena Turner, Pencil Sharpeners, 2009
Lorena Turner, Plastic Clock Back, 2008
Lorena Turner, Sandwich Container, 2008
Lorena Turner, Rubber Letter Stamp Set, 2008
Lorena Turner, Tape Measure, 2008
Lorena Turner, Disposable Camera, 2008
Lorena Turner, Plastic Bag, 2008
Lorena Turner, Back of Circuit Board for Remote Control, 2009